Industrial Design Firm
What is the key factor in medical decisions?
Blood Tests
An accurate blood test depends on the quality of the specimen...
AMVC
Automated Micro Venous Collection
Revolutionary Venous Blood Collection System
Hospital phlebotomy can be streamlined with an on-demand handheld electronic device and a programmable blood collection tube. This revolutionary system produces high-quality micro venous blood samples with significantly less hemolysis than the current “acceptable” levels.
Assuring a good quality blood sample makes it to the lab is critical in providing physicians with the essential information for medical decisions. An estimated 60%–70% of these decisions are based on laboratory test results.
This innovative system is focused on enhanced patient safety through forced compliance in blood collection procedures, ensuring that small volume, high quality samples become the new industry norm.
MAIN ISSUES: The current blood collection method has two main factors resulting in poor sample quality. One, frequent human errors and two, the current vacuum technology is over half a century old.
Regulatory and accreditation agencies work to prevent human errors, but those errors remain prevalent for many reasons. The wrong patient can be identified for blood collection. Patient labels can be accidentally applied to the wrong patient’s collected tubes. Tubes can be inadvertently mislabeled for the corresponding test. Samples can be collected in the wrong order resulting in cross contamination of additives. Blood samples may be improperly mixed. Not enough blood is collected per tube, and so on. Poor samples lead to the need for repeat sample collection, (Estimated U.S. annual cost due to retesting alone is $37 billion), inaccurate test results, misdiagnosis, improper treatments, higher transfusion rates, repeat needle sticks, increased hospital liability costs, and even death.
With stored vacuum technology being antiquated, current manufactured tubes have an excessive amount of vacuum in order to have longer shelf life. In addition, this antiquated technology cannot produce a small volume venous collection tube, which results in an excessive amount of blood being collected from a patient. These manufacturing limitations result in a surplus of expired tubes discarded into the medical waste stream, but more importantly, harm to the patient by requiring large amounts of excess blood being collected; in a hospital setting this can be detrimental, especially in an intensive care unit (ICU).
SOLUTION: The Automated Micro Venous Collection (AMVC) system obtains superior venous blood samples using enforced compliance, which not only assures a quality sample but reduces liability risk. This patented technology is a game changer for the medical world making current collection methods obsolete.
Accompanying the traditional venous needle stick, the AMVC system utilizes a generic micro volume collection tube, which is programed with additive and vacuum at the point of collection via a digital handheld device. This technology can be customized for the patient and is appropriate for all patient types including pediatric and geriatric.
As opposed to the current industry standard of 3.5 to 4 ml collection tubes, the generic AMVC tube accommodates micro volumes of 300-1000 uL in a fully closed system, adhering to compliance mandates. Having a single generic SKU eliminates the current waste due to expired tubes being discarded. (Estimated U.S. annual cost of discarded expired tubes - $200 million).
The AMVC Tube coupled with the handheld device allows for a customized level of vacuum on demand. This greatly reduces hemolysis, resulting in a cleaner sample for more accurate lab results. Based on current testing, acceptable industry standard hemolysis rates are approximately 3 times higher compared to the AMVC system.
When the blood draw is complete, the AMVC tube is labeled by the device before it can be removed, eliminating the possibility of mislabeling. Each year more than 160,900 adverse events occur in U.S. hospitals because of sample identification errors. Reducing potential human errors means less hospital risk exposure.
For a smooth transition away from standard vacuum tubes, AMVC specimens are fully compatible with all current laboratory instrumentation and are seamlessly integrated into the workflow without any special handling.
There are other low volume devices currently available on the market, but they are classified as an “open” system. The AMVC system is “closed”, eliminating the need for open container blood transfers into standard tubes. This not only assures testing efficiency but keeps health care workers at less risk.
The AMVC System engineers out human errors that result in regulatory compliance failures. The digital nature of the device allows for positive patient identification, correct orders, and specimen requirements from hospital software via automatic download, and is compatible with all current blood collection sets, venous access devices, IV lines, luer locks, etc. This provides an efficient system that improves overall hospital workflow.
From a hospital liability standpoint, the AMVC System minimizes risks and the associated costs. The patient's medical data is documented by the system, electronically capturing all steps and information from the initial request for sample, throughout the blood collection process, to lab results.
OVERVIEW: The AMVC system truly revolutionizes the quality of health care. It’s an automated system that obtains superior specimens by means of reducing hemolysis and engineering out human errors through enforced compliance. The AMVC system dramatically improves patient care and decreases hospital costs and liability risks while conforming to existing laboratory equipment.
