Mr Peter Deliopoulos1
1PDMedical Pty Ltd, Dandenong South, Australia
Background: Through four simple examples of collaboration with I.C. nurses we see how long standing problems in the wards and operating theatre can be solved to protect workers from sharps injury, infection and the trauma of uncertainty, loss of work hours and the consequences of infection.
Methods : PDMedical have collaborated with infection control nurses across Australia on the development of our Sharps Caddy, Surgical Transfer Trays, PPE Caddy and most recently the Scalpel Blade Remover.
These are examples of effective collaboration between health workers and experts external to health care sector to solve real risks of injury and infection.
In all 4 cases we followed a simple process and achieved excellent results.
Results: In the case of the Sharps Caddy has been accepted in hospital wards Australia wide and have significantly reduced the rate of sharps injuries. At the Royal Melbourne hospital their point of use sharps injuries dropped from 74 to 2 in the year the caddy was introduced into the wards.
In the words of the Infection Control nurses at St Vincent’s Private Hospital Melbourne: “Working with external experts from a field unrelated to health care enabled us to address a situation for which we had long sought a solution.”
Conclusion: In demanding, changing and challenging times existing products and processes may not be as suited as they may have been. Collaboration and innovating may be the best way to address existing and emerging situation to improve the safety and efficiency.
Collaboration and innovation is rewarding.
Biography: Peter is the Managing Director of PDMedical Pty Ltd and Chairman of the Australian Biomedical Engineering Innovation Awards (ABEIA). He has served as member of the Board at the Western General Hospital in Melbourne and holds a degree in Civil Engineering from The University of Melbourne.
Prior to joining the medical sector Peter worked locally and abroad across a range of industries including Mining, Petroleum, Engineering, Construction, Telecom’s and Research & Development.