Healthcare waste has the potential
to infect hospital patients, healthcare workers and the general public. While
roughly 85% of the amount of waste generated in the healthcare industry is
non-hazardous, the remaining 15% is hazardous and may be infectious, toxic or
radioactive. That’s according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which
cites particular concern about infection with HIV, hepatitis B and C – only a
few of many possible infectious diseases – for which there is strong evidence
of transmission from improper healthcare waste management.
Obviously, medical personnel,
especially in emergency situations, aren’t always privy to whether or not a
patient’s fluids are infectious, and outdated manual fluid handling methods,
which require hand carrying and emptying filled fluid canisters, present an
exposure risk and potential liability.
Skyline Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:
SKLN) is in the market to buck these risks with its fully automated, patented,
FDA-cleared waste fluid disposal system that virtually eliminates staff
exposure to blood, irrigation fluid and other potentially infectious fluids
found in the healthcare environment.
The company’s STREAMWAY® System
fully automates the collection, measurement and disposal of waste fluids. Aside
from providing a measure of safety against biohazard exposure, the system is
designed to: reduce overhead costs to hospitals and surgical centers; improve
compliance with Occupational State and Health Association (OSHA) and other
regulatory agency safety guidelines; improve efficiency in the operating room,
and radiology and endoscopy departments; and help eliminate the approximately
50 million potentially disease-infected canisters dumped into U.S. landfills
each year.
Installed in or on the wall,
STREAMWAY features an illuminated touch screen that provides the user control
over surgical suction levels and displays automated measurement of volumes. The
single patient procedure filter and tissue trap both prevent cross
contamination and allow for tissue retrieval. When it comes time to clean up,
the user detaches the filter, connects the cleaning solution bottle, and
activates the five-minute clean cycle using the touch screen.
In one case study, STREAMWAY user
Fran Hahn, BSN, RN, CNOR at Huntingdon Valley Surgery Center in Pennsylvania
stated, “I cringe when I have to do an arthroscopic procedure in one of the
rooms without STREAMWAY. It’s so much easier and safer to use than canisters.”
Read the entire cast study here:
http://www.skylinemedical.com/wp-content/uploads/STREAMWAY_CaseStudy_HuntingdonValleySC.pdf
Unlike Hahn’s experience, Skyline
has found that the majority of radiology and imaging rooms, in particular, are
not even aware that automated fluid disposal technology exists. To counter this
finding, Skyline recently partnered with the Association for Radiologic &
Imaging Nursing (“ARIN”) to market Skyline products and services to medical
professionals performing paracentesis and thoracentesis procedures.
“Our research has shown that most
radiology and imaging rooms do not currently use, nor are they aware of
automated fluid disposal technology, despite the major potential safety and
cost benefits. As it is the nurses and technologists that often perform these
procedures and can help influence purchasing decisions, we expect our
partnership with ARIN to create new sales opportunities,” Josh Kornberg,
president and CEO of Skyline, stated in the news release announcing the
partnership.
As an ARIN sponsor, Skyline has
access to nurses in the imaging and radiology space, and, on April 3, will have
the opportunity to attend the ARIN Spring Convention in Vancouver, where the
company’s sales representatives will demonstrate Skyline products to nurses,
technologists and other industry decision makers.
In the first nine months of 2015,
Skyline shipped and sold 15 of its STREAMWAY Systems, and by November had
initiated 12 new trials of the system in eight different U.S. states. From past
experience, the company’s trial strategy yields significant success.
“Our sales strategy encourages
hospital and surgical centers to trial the STREAMWAY, as we are confident that
the unique benefits of our exposure prevention system will be quickly
recognized throughout the facilities. This approach has proven to be successful
with our trial-to-sale conversion rate standing at an impressive 98%,” Kornberg
stated. “There are currently more than 48 hospital and surgical centers using
our STREAMWAY System in the United States. We are looking to rapidly expand our
customer base through the implementation of an aggressive sales and marketing
strategy over the next year, which will include a dedicated salesforce and a
network of distributors.”
This “aggressive sales and
marketing strategy” includes international expansion, and Skyline has started
the process of filing international patent applications in Canada and select
European countries for the technologies and processes applied in the STREAMWAY
System.
For its domestic focus, Skyline is
gaining mounting confidence in the capability and acceptance of its technology.
“Our success selling to major
hospitals indicates that medical centers are shifting away from, and we are
displacing, alternative fluid management solutions that have been in place for
many years. For us to have achieved this, despite our limited sales and
marketing capabilities, truly validates the quality and effectiveness of the
STREAMWAY™ System. The STREAMWAY is currently installed in a wide variety of
procedure rooms, including surgery, interventional radiology and endoscopy
suites, demonstrating very significant market potential for the product.
Moreover, we are starting to see repeat orders from some of these customers,”
Kornberg stated in a previous news release.
As more medical facilities are
seeing, STREAMWAY eliminates one of the most dangerous aspects of being a
healthcare professional: handling surgical fluid canisters and their contents.
With rising market acceptance, Skyline continues to focus on establishing
STREAMWAY as the premier surgical fluid disposal device, providing an
unprecedented standard of safety, efficiency and environmental benefits for
hospitals and surgical centers worldwide.
For more information, visit
www.skylinemedical.com
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