Welch Allyn, a leading medical diagnostic device company that specialises in helping clinicians improve patient outcomes, today announced the launch of its new FlexiPort® EcoCuff™ Single-Patient-Use Blood Pressure Cuff.
As hospitals continue to fight the never-ending battles against both cross-contamination and rising costs, EcoCuff™ provides a solution for both issues while also having less environmental impact than other disposable blood pressure cuffs.
The EcoCuff™ is designed to remain with one patient for the duration of the hospital stay and then be disposed of upon release. The centres for disease control and prevention recommend the use of such patient-dedicated products to help reduce cross-contamination.
As part of the FlexiPort® line of disposable blood pressure cuffs, EcoCuff™ utilises the FlexiPort® single-point connection standardisation system, allowing the EcoCuff™ to follow the patient into virtually every room and connect to nearly every device in the hospital.
Lowering the risk of cross-contamination may help hospitals avoid the estimated $5 billion that hospital-acquired infections cost U.S. hospitals each year. In addition, EcoCuff™ costs less than other disposable cuffs because it is manufactured using less material. It weighs 60 percent less than other disposable blood pressure cuffs, reducing transport and waste disposal costs for hospitals.
The lightweight EcoCuff™ is made of 100 percent polypropylene and does not contain BPA, DEHP, Latex, PVC or other materials that can leach into the environment in a landfill or release harmful chemicals when incinerated. EcoCuff™ is capable of being recycled in areas where polypropylene recycling is available.
Although the practice is not yet widespread, a number of hospitals have implemented the practice of recycling medical-use polypropylene plastics. A lifecycle analysis by the Centre for Sustainable Production at the Rochester Institute of Technology found that EcoCuff™ has 60 percent less overall environmental impact than other disposable blood pressure cuffs.
"EcoCuff™ improves the single-patient-use model, which is sometimes expensive and difficult for hospitals to implement," said Sean Karla, global category manager at Welch Allyn.
"EcoCuff is the first disposable cuff on the market that brings together cross-contamination control, cost containment and environmental impact. It's an exciting product that rounds out Welch Allyn's line of disposable cuffs."
EcoCuff™ is available in four sizes and features a unique slot-fitting system that makes sure each patient receives the properly sized cuff. EcoCuff™ meets all the latest clinical standards and guidelines from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and the American Heart Association (AHA).
Welch Allyn will officially unveil EcoCuff™ at both CleanMed 2013, held April 24–26 in Boston, and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition, also in Boston, from May 20-23. The company has made the product available for trial and purchase and will be providing additional feedback at the shows from hospitals that have used the cuff.
-160x160-state_article-rel-cat.jpg)
