Caregivers and nurses must multitask and provide great quality health care while managing a huge number of patients, all under both mental and physical circumstances. This means that in these cases, small medical errors can appear and cause severe consequences.
Patient safety is always in the top place and several studies including a study by Johns Hopkins highlight that the scale of medical error is still high. The study has found that medical mistakes are the leading cause of death in the United States.What is more, infusion related mistakes are major ones, especially in critical healthcare settings and emergencies.
The risk of medical errors are particularly high when nurses are responsible for managing and tracking multiple IV lines for each patient. Locating hard to find veins to insert IV line can be as challenging as searching for a needle in a haystack. Caretakers take multiple attempts to find an appropriate vein which is both painful and frustrating for patients as well as time consuming and challenging for health care professionals. Additionally, some people naturally have small and thin veins making them hard to detect. Dark skin tons, and bad lightning can make veins hard to find.
Fortunately, a new medical innovation called a Vein Viewer Flex is a smart solution for making the process quick and easy. With HD imaging and exclusive digital full field technology, Vein Viewer is a vein illuminator that offers benefit and comfort for all patients during Pre, During and Post vascular access procedures. The technology projects near-infrared light and hemoglobin in the blood absorbs this NIR light, while the surrounding tissue reflects it. The reflected light is captured by a special digital camera, processed and converted into a visible image that will be projected back onto the patient’s skin in real-time. This makes blood collection and IV line inserting process much easier as care takers will see to see the veins, so a needle can be inserted in just one attempt.
Vein Viewer can be used for venipuncture in these cases:
- Infants and children
- Patients with thin or damaged veins
- Patients receiving chemotherapy
- People with dark skin or excessive hair growth
- People suffering from obesity
So, is it possible to find a needle in a haystack? Yes it is!
Development of light-enabled IV products are just one example among thousands. This small, and smart innovation is a solution that can shift in how we and whole humankind think about medtech innovations. The future belongs to tools that are intuitive, efficient as well as helpful for professionals.
This is how public health care, medicine and science improves, not just with big ideas, but with right and smart ones.
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