As a safety products company, Greiner Bio-One support hygiene and safety in routine healthcare. The use of the VACUETTE®Super-T is a significant step in the right direction. Studies indicate that it is poor hygiene and the handling of equipment such as tourniquets acting as fomites that is more likely the cause of cross-contamination, as opposed to cross-contamination
As a safety products company, Greiner Bio-One support hygiene and safety in routine healthcare. The use of the VACUETTE®Super-T is a significant step in the right direction.
Studies indicate that it is poor hygiene and the handling of equipment such as tourniquets acting as fomites that is more likely the cause of cross-contamination, as opposed to cross-contamination occurring by contact to the skin of the patients. tourniquets that are the cause of cross-contamination, as opposed to the patients’ skin being the risk being the skin of the patient. In a study at a hospital, only 37 per cent of the team did hand-washing with soap and alcohol prior to venipuncture. As a conclusion of that, “poor hygiene combined with the unawareness in use of tourniquets make re-usable tourniquets a vehicle of hospitalacquired infections” 1.
To minimize the window of opportunity for crosscontamination, a disposable tourniquet should be used and immediately disposed of after use. The surface of a tourniquet “has the potential to act as fomite and can harbor pathogenic microorganisms”. Furthermore, in this study to determine the prevalence of Multi-Resistant Organisms (MRO), it was found that the highest rate of MRO colonization was in the ICU, putting the most fragile patients at risk.
The risk with a re-usable tourniquet is that there is constant handling, possibly without gloves, between patients. Even with a ‘single-patient tourniquet’ – limited to one patient, there is no of tracking which healthcare worker has handled the tourniquet, or with which patients and medical devices previous contact has been made.
To minimise risk and maximise safety for the patient, a single-use product should always be the tourniquet of choice.
For this reason, Greiner Bio-One recommends the VACUETTE Super-T for your daily routine care.
• Single-Use
• Easy application and quick release
• Protects from cross-contamination
• Not made with natural rubber latex and non-DEHP
• Practical reclosable box
Greiner Bio-One specialises in the development, production and distribution of high-quality plastic laboratory products. The company is a technology partner for hospitals, laboratories, universities, research institutes, and the diagnostic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Greiner Bio-One is split into three divisions – Preanalytics, BioScience and Sterilisation. As an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Greiner Bio-One provides individual solutions in the area of custom-made design developments and production processes for the life sciences and medical sectors.
In 2017, Greiner Bio-One International GmbH generated a turnover of 473 million euros and had over 2,200 employees, 26 subsidiaries and numerous distribution partners in over 100 countries. Greiner Bio-One is part of Greiner Holding, which is based in Kremsmünster (Austria).
More at www.gbo.com.
Reference:
1. Anesthesiologist’s hand hygiene and disinfection of reusable rubber tourniquet with alcohol swabs before intravascular cannulation; Ji Yeon Kim, Hyun-JooAhn, Eun-Kyung Lee and Hyun Byung Chae
