| DURHAM, N.C. (May 23, 2007) — In response to rising infection rates and sepsis in U.S. hospitals, bioMérieux, Inc., a leading in vitro diagnostics company, is launching an education campaign to provide labs and infection control personnel with resources and educational materials to support best practices in blood culture collection. WorkSafe is designed to easily integrate into any lab to improve specimen collection, transport, storage and disposal.
Many hospitals are reaching critical levels of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) and increasing cases of sepsis, particularly in immuno-compromised patients. Nearly two million patients in the United States get an infection in a hospital each year. Of these, nearly 90,000 people will die as a result of the HAI1. Healthcare officials are desperate for solutions. Better safety practices and lab automation can help reduce the spread of infection in hospitals.
Automation in the field of blood culture is proven to play a significant role in reducing specimen contamination through continuous test monitoring and rapid results. bioMérieux will take WorkSafe directly to its customers for product training and safety education on BacT/ALERT® 3D, an automated microbial detection system.
“bioMérieux was the first to introduce a continuous monitoring microbial detection system, our BacT/ALERT 3D, and now we offer the industry’s only plastic blood culture bottles,” said Herb Steward, executive vice president and general manager, bioMérieux North America. “As an industry leader, bioMérieux is introducing another first, WorkSafe, to empower lab technicians with new safety tools and improve clinical decision making.”
WorkSafe will teach lab technicians best practices in all stages of blood culture, from collection to care. The campaign supports the use of plastic blood culture bottles, instead of glass, to decrease the risk of breakage, which can lead to blood and body fluid exposures, and contact with dangerous materials. There are many safety benefits to using plastic instead of glass. For example, the lightweight bottles can be sent through pneumatic tube systems without special holders, without fear of breakage.
Many labs already work with plastic to meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards and to comply with its Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. Glass puncture wounds are among the most common injuries in the medical field, and glass that is contaminated with blood or other potentially infectious materials poses an extreme danger. In most cases, plastic can be easily substituted for glass, therefore, “OSHA makes it clear: using glass in the laboratory when an equivalent plastic alternative is available must be justified in writing.”2
In addition to being break-resistant, plastic weighs one-half to one-third less than glass, offering additional advantages to the lab. Lightweight plastic bottles are easier to carry and put less weight on the phlebotomy tray. Additionally, disposal of biohazardous waste is charged by the pound, making lightweight plastic more cost-effective than glass.
WorkSafe will launch with the introduction if an educational resource kit that includes a blood culture collection video, competency checklist and certification. The kit also supplies samples of plastic bottles, safety collection adapters and skin preparation (chloroprene).
Advancing Diagnostics to Improve Public Health
A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for over 40 years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 35 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2006, revenues reached €1.037 billion with 83% of sales outside of France.
bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments, software), which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Our products are used for diagnosing infectious diseases and providing high medical value results for cardiovascular emergencies and cancer screening and monitoring. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. bioMérieux is listed on Eurolist by Euronext. For more information, visit www.biomerieux-usa.com.
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.cdc.gov.
Ernst J., Dennis. MT(ASCP), Center for Phlebotomy Education, Inc.,
2 Coalition for Phlebotomy Personnel Standards. Richard Fairfax of OSHA talks about the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. MLO 2003; 35(2):32-34.
Contacts for bioMérieux
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