ConvaTec’s Solutions® Algorithms Yield a 90% Pressure Ulcer Reduction

     A retrospective analysis conducted by clinicians at Maricopa Integrated Health System ([MIHS] Phoenix, Ariz) found that a protocol of care using a standardized algorithm with advanced products reduced the prevalence of pressure ulcers by 90%. First launched by ConvaTec (Skillman, NJ) 10 years ago, the Solutions® Algorithms printed manuals have been content validated by multiple groups of wound care professionals and global opinion leaders. Under the recently established MIHS Center for Clinical Excellence, nursing officers selected algorithms, an evidence-based wound assessment, treatment, and prevention guideline.

     Targeting pressure ulcer prevention has been a key goal across the system, especially following the inclusion of Stage 3 and Stage 4 pressure ulcers acquired after admission to a healthcare facility on the list of “never events” by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). More than 1100 MIHS nurses were trained on the use of the algorithms. MIHS also utilized the advanced products specified in the evidence-based protocol for pressure ulcer prevention: the Aloe Vesta® skin care system, DuoDERM® dressings, and the Flexi-Seal® Fecal Management System. After the first year, a prevalence audit showed more than a 50% reduction in hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. By December 2008, following the full rollout of the interactive algorithms, a second audit reported a 90% reduction in pressure ulcers.

     Visit www.convatec.com for more information.

Derma Sciences Begins Selling Bioguard™ Barrier Dressings

     Quick-Med Technologies, Inc (Gainesville, Fla) recently announced that Derma Sciences (Princeton, NJ) began selling and shipping Bioguard™ barrier dressings to customers. Bioguard is the first wound dressing to utilize Quick-Med’s proprietary non-leaching Nimbus® technology.

     Quick-Med’s Nimbus technology will offer surgeons, wound care clinicians, infection control experts, and primary care doctors an important new weapon against the transmission of such virulent bacteria as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The platform technology employs a large polyquaternary biocide, which is irreversibly bonded to any of the various materials used in wound care products such as cotton, rayon, and polyurethane. This technology, unlike other antimicrobial agents that require release into the wound, does not interfere with wound healing and is not susceptible to origination bacterial resistance. The technology received US Food and Drug Administration clearance in late February 2009. It is the first non-leaching antimicrobial available in a wound dressing.

     Visit www.dermasciences.com for more information.

Healthpoint Investigates Experimental Cell-based Wound Therapy

     Healthpoint Ltd (Fort Worth, Tex) has enrolled the first of a planned 235 subjects into a Phase II dose response study investigating an experimental cell-based wound therapy, HP802-247, which is intended for the treatment of venous leg ulcers. HP802-247 is a topical spray containing living keratinocytes and fibroblasts. The first patient was enrolled at The Center for Clinical Research near San Francisco, California, led by the site’s principal investigator, Alexander Reyzelman, DPM. A total of 28 investigators in 18 states are conducting the study.

     The trial is the second of two planned-dose response trials, extending the dose range being tested and exploring two plausible dose frequencies. Enrollment into the trial is preceded by screening and run-in phases and is expected to continue through the middle of 2010.