New Products and Industry News August

Company launches website for clinicians

     ConvaTec (Skillman, NJ) recently launched a new website, www.Hydrofiber.com, to demonstrate how the company’s proprietary Hydrofiber® Technology is transforming wound care. The technology enables the company’s dressings to gel on contact with fluid, providing clinicians and patients with substantial wound care benefits. This technology powers the performance of advanced wound care products, including Aquacel®, Aquacel Ag®, and Versiva XC® dressings, each developed for different wound management needs. Designed for clinicians managing chronic and acute wounds, the website illustrates the unique features and benefits of the technology with extensive video, data, and commentary from research scientists within ConvaTec Wound Therapeutics.

     For more information, visit www.convatec.com.

Next-generation hemostatic dressing available for military emergencies

     HemCon Medical Technologies Inc (Portland, Ore) launched its ChitoGauze™ dressing platform. The product represents the next generation, z-folded hemostatic chitosan dressing, designed for battlefield and acute care use. Proven effective on severe, arterial bleeding, the initial product design received FDA 510(k) clearance in April 2009. The dressing’s formulation, along with its antibacterial properties, offers the latest in battlefield care requirements, providing medical professionals a multilayered solution to help avoid infection.

     For more information, visit www.hemcon.com.

Hand dressing manages exudate

     Ark Therapeutics Group plc (London, United Kingdom) recently launched Kerraglove®, a mitten-shaped dressing device to manage exudate in hand injuries, particularly burns.

     The glove was developed and patented for the treatment of hand burns treated in the hospital or primary care setting. Product development involved the testing of semi-breathable polyurethane films to ensure maintenance of a confined, optimally moist environment within the glove. Such an environment promotes healing of the burn with reduced risk of maceration as a result of the wound becoming too wet. In a UK clinical trial of 45 patients conducted during its development, the glove was found to cause less pain was more acceptable to both patients and nurses than conventional polybag standard care. The glove can be used alone as a pain dressing or in conjunction with therapeutic agents given to promote healing or control infection. The recommended dressing change time is twice a day initially and daily when exudate levels have subsided.

     For more information, visit www.arktherapeutics.com.

Therapeutic sleep surfaces prevent pressure ulcers

     Invacare Continuing Care Inc ([ICCI] Elyria, Ohio) a subsidiary of Invacare® Corporation, introduced the Solace Resolution Gliding Therapeutic Support Surface, a new generation of skin shear prevention. Standard foam mattresses placed on an articulating bed tend to pinch at the middle when the head or foot of the bed is raised. This can cause the person resting on the mattress to slide into the center and risk painful skin shear and increased pressure on sensitive areas of the body. The new mattress eliminates this compression by allowing the top and bottom sections of the mattress to move independently of each other. The lower section remains flush against the bed frame as it is raised or lowered while the resident glides freely and comfortably on the upper section. This minimizes skin shear and provides full support for the patient in any position.

     The mattress also has deep contours to maximize body contact, reducing isolated pressure points that can lead to pressure ulcers. The cover of the mattress offers multiple advantages because the two-way stretch material stays firmly against the foam insert, the water-resistant, air-permeable fabric enhances comfort, and the entire cover removes easily for laundering.

     For more information, visit www.invacare-ccg.com.

Venous ulcer compression stocking kit available

     SIGVARIS (Peachtree City, Ga) launched the UlceRx Therapy Solution Kit, a medically effective compression stocking kit for the treatment of venous leg ulcers. The kit consists of two underliner stockings and two 30 mm Hg to 40 mm Hg graduated medical compression stockings, allowing the patient to wear one set while washing the other. One of the pain- reducing factors of the new kit is the underliner stocking that is made from 100% cotton to soothe the wearer’s skin. The outer layer fabric also provides a “glide” that enables the outer stocking to be put on more easily, reducing the pain and discomfort of applying compression to a wound.

      In a recent study, 96.2% of the participating patients achieved complete closure of their wound with the use of the stocking kit (traditional bandages have a 70% complete wound closure rate) and healed ulcers up to 4-cm in diameter wound twice as fast as compared to bandage wrapping. Patients using the stocking kit reported pain was absent both morning and night with use of the kit; whereas, patients using bandages experienced markedly stronger pain when bandages were applied and removed.

     For more information, visit www.sigvaris.com.

Fecal management system helps maintain skin condition and reduces pressure ulcer risk

     ConvaTec (Skillman, NJ) recently received first place (Total Recall Category) in the 2008 Critical Care Nurse Advertising Effectiveness Awards for its Flexi-Seal® Fecal Management System (FMS). The FMS is a temporary containment device for patients with acute fecal incontinence. It was designed to safely and effectively divert liquid or semi-liquid fecal matter to help protect patients’ wounds from fecal contamination and reduce the risk of skin breakdown and spread of infection such as Clostridium difficile.

     Critical Care Nurse presented the Award to ConvaTec based on reader responses to a survey comparing 17 advertisements in the publication’s October 2008 issue. Survey respondents ranked the FMS advertisement best in the Total Recall Category, with 90% of readers responding that they recalled seeing the advertisement and rated it highly for visual appeal, ease of reading, and showing product benefits.

     The FMS is widely used at more than 1,800 intensive care unit hospitals in the US and more than 500,000 patients have benefited from its use. The company continues to support healthcare professionals with a dedicated on-call nurse specialist program. To date, more than 110,000 nurses have been trained on the FMS.

     For more information, visit www.convatec.com.

Report indicates major concerns regarding CMS guidelines

     The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced last year that it would no longer reimburse for hospital-acquired conditions such as pressure ulcers. DM Systems (Evanston, IL) conducted a series of surveys in 2008 to gauge the effect of the CMS guidelines on healthcare facilities. Survey results found that major concern about the changes started in the spring and remained consistent through the fall. On average, 85% of respondents indicated that the new guidelines would have a significant impact on their facilities.

     According to the report of survey results, approximately one third of survey respondents revealed their facilities did not have an official heel pressure ulcer prevention program. The CMS changes may have contributed to the increased number of respondents who said that their facility had a heel ulcer prevention program. Of the respondents in the first round of surveys (Spring 2008), 36% stated that they did not work with an official protocol, but in the last round of surveys (Fall 2008), only 30% of respondents indicated that they did not have an official protocol. The majority (66%) of survey participants indicated their decision when purchasing new pressure-relief products was affected most by whether the product would work the best; 15.3% indicated that cost was their major determining factor.

     Surveys were distributed to wound care professionals at three key wound care conferences: Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society Meeting (SAWC/WHS) in April, WOCN’s 40th Annual Conference in June, and Clinical Symposium on Advances in Skin & Wound Care in October. Respondents representing a variety of healthcare facilities including hospitals, home healthcare, wound care clinics, nursing homes, hospices, and assisted-living facilities.

     For more information, visit www.heelift.com.

HMP Communications introduces new online video blog

     HMP Communications’ (Malvern, Pa) wound care division recently launched an online video blog (vlog) on its Today’s Wound Clinic website: “What’s New in Wound Care.” Entries are uploaded to the website on a regular basis and often are combined with embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Vlogs often utilize web syndication to allow for the distribution of video over the Internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats for automatic aggregation and playback on mobile devices and personal computers.

     James Calder, Chimere G. Holmes, and Lauren A. Grant developed “What’s New in Wound Care,” one of the wound care department’s newest online components, designed specifically for the audiences of Ostomy Wound Management, WOUNDS, and Today’s Wound Clinic. The weekly segment will serve as an interactive news source to inform and encourage readers and industry professionals to network with the HMP’s key advertisers. Hosted by Associate Editor Chimere G. Holmes, the vlog will cover the latest product and industry news throughout the industry.

     For more information, visit www.todayswoundclinic.com/news/whats-new-in-wound-care.

This article was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.