Atwood Innovation Plaza Spotlight: MedLite ID

MedLite ID: An Innovation That Reduces Infusion Confusion

While America’s healthcare system is no stranger to criticism and you likely already know about its need for reform, you may be surprised to learn where the spotlight is shining on the IV lines hooked up to patients in ICUs, operating rooms, and COVID-19 units. These soft, flexible tubes are designed to deliver medications of all types, yet only one line, the “safe line,” can be used to infuse a life-saving medicine, as the other lines are dedicated to specific drugs. It raises this question: if a patient has between four and twenty IV lines in their body, how will a medical professional know the right line to use when a “code blue” is ringing out and every second matters?

The tangled mess of IV lines is called “infusion confusion” by those working on the front lines, and unfortunately, mistakes are sometimes made. You might ask, “How many IV lines would I need to have before the risk of a potentially fatal mistake is real?” The answer: one. For every IV line started after the first one, the potential for error increases by 3 percent. When there are eleven IV lines, there is a 30 percent chance of an error.

These errors are called Adverse Drug Events (ADEs), and the size of the issue is alarming: 56 percent of all ADEs are infusion-related, the result of caregivers choosing the wrong infusion line. In a time of COVID-19 care, with an increase in the number of patients and a shortage of nurses, “line tracing” needs to be fast and effective.

“In today’s COVID world, we routinely keep the pumps outside the patient’s room with Additionally, MedLite ID Smart-Lites: • Can convert $2200 per day in projected infusion ADE loss to $1500 per day in savings. • Increase patient safety by 78 percent and virtually eliminates ADE line-tracing errors. • Decrease safe-line identification time by 34 percent • Decrease IV line errors during patient transports and shift changes. • Decrease the anxiety and stress experienced by the nursing staff. In a MedLite study with Intermountain

Healthcare, 100 percent of nurse participants reported reduced stress in selecting the safe line, even when IV lines were tangled or hidden by bedding or patient gowns. • Reduce the time of exposure to clinical staff members who are caring for critically ill COVID-19 patients by up to two hours per twelve hour nursing shift. • Can be readily deployed. MedLite’s mantra is “Learn it in ninety seconds; apply it in sixty seconds; change the next patient’s life.”

Recently, MedLite ID was awarded a group purchasing agreement for patient safety solutions with Premier, a leading healthcare improvement company that unites an alliance of more than 4,100 US hospitals and 200,000 other providers to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and advisory and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. The new agreement allows Premier members, at their discretion, to take advantage of special pricing and terms pre-negotiated by Premier for the MedLite ID patient safety device.

“As health systems search for solutions to reduce the risk of medication errors, MedLite ID can help make it faster and easier to identify the safe administration route,” said Rodney Schutt, CEO of MedLite ID. “We’re incredibly pleased that Premier sees the value in MedLite ID, and we’re looking forward to engaging their membership to enhance patient safety and staff efficiency.”

fifteen feet of connected tubing going to a triple lumen catheter,” said one acute nurse. “There may be six to eight powerful meds (vasoactive drips and sedatives), and an IV push medication given in the wrong line could be fatal. You try tracing eight look-alike lines to the patient’s port and see how easy it is! Clearly identifying the ‘carrier’ would be made so easy with the clip-on MedLite ID device.”

Although infusion confusion is potentially harmful to patients, it is also very costly. 60 to 90 percent of all IV infusions in the United States contain one or more errors that can lead to accidental death, causing hospitals to pay an average of $2,200 per per day per every 100 beds in avoidable ADE costs. This does not count upwards of $5 million in estimated wrongful-death legal costs should such an error occur. Investing in a safer and higher quality of care for both patients and caregivers by making it simpler to choose the right line and reduce COVID-19 exposure could save lives and bring down these costs.

This is the mission of MedLite ID, a Utahbased manufacturer with the world’s only patented smart-lite patient safety solution that lights the emergency medication infusion line to prevent medication errors related to multiple infusions. Invented by Dr. Wayne Provost and Jeff Stewart, MedLite ID goes on the safe line to “Lite the Way.” The safe line is the single IV line flowing saline instead of a dedicated drug and ensures a drug-to-drug collision (an ADE) cannot occur. By activating its three smart lites, the IV safe line is illuminated, eliminating the need for manual line tracing while saving time and lives. For more information on MedLite ID, please visit www.medliteid.com, https://www.facebook.com/MedLiteID/, or https://www.linkedin.com/ company/19257210/admin/.