CareFusion Expands Skin Antisepsis Portfolio

CareFusion Corp. announces it has entered into an agreement with Healthpoint, Ltd. to market and sell innovative surgical scrub solutions, including Surgicept® Waterless Surgical Hand Scrub, Triseptin® Water-Aided Surgical Scrub and Triseptin® Hand and Body Antiseptic.

The license agreement gives CareFusion exclusive rights to sell the products in the United States. With the addition of these products to its infection prevention product portfolio, which includes the patient preoperative skin antiseptic ChloraPrep® (2 percent chlorhexidine gluconate/70 percent isopropyl alcohol) and surgical clippers, CareFusion now offers a more comprehensive package of clinically proven products and technologies to help reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) related to surgical procedures.

It has been established that HAIs can be reduced with proper hand antisepsis by healthcare professionals prior to surgery, which limits the transfer of potentially harmful microorganisms to the skin of their patients. Recommendations and guidelines, including those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), state that healthcare professionals should clean their hands with an alcohol-based antimicrobial solution prior to patient contact or putting on gloves. However, adherence to these guidelines is lower than it should be; studies have shown an average compliance rate of 40 percent. According to the CDC, poor compliance is due to multiple factors, including perceived lack of time and irritation or dryness caused by the antiseptic.

"To reduce the risk of infection, clinical evidence and practice recommendations clearly state the importance of disinfecting the patients and the healthcare professionals skin prior to any surgical procedure," says Jason Strohm, vice president and general manager of CareFusion infection prevention. "With ChloraPrep for patient skin and Surgicept for the hands of surgical healthcare workers, we now offer a comprehensive line of clinically proven products to help reduce the risk of HAIs at their source: the skin."

A recently conducted study of healthcare professionals showed the ingredients and formulation of Surgicept may address some of the factors related to the failure to adhere to surgical hand scrub protocols. In this study, OR healthcare professionals were blindfolded and asked to separately apply two different waterless surgical hand hygiene products, Surgicept® Waterless Surgical Hand Scrub and Avagard® Surgical Hand Antiseptic, and rate them on a series of attributes. Nearly 80 percent of the surgeons and OR staff preferred Surgicept to Avagard, the current leading waterless surgical hand antiseptic. Participants found Surgicept to be significantly more appealing and noted its soft, smooth feel and quick drying time. In addition to overall preference, more participants favored Surgicept on specific attributes that could have a positive effect on compliance, including easier gloving, quicker dry time, less residue on the skin and an easier application process.

"We developed the Surgicept formulation to address the complaints from surgical staff about the feel, longer drying time and stickiness of current surgical scrub products," sys Shanta M. Modak, PhD, research scientist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, N.Y. and inventor of Surgicept. "I believe that Surgicept will make hand hygiene more comfortable for healthcare professionals and therefore has the potential to increase compliance."

Acquired by Healthpoint in October 2005, Surgicept offers healthcare professionals a waterless, brushless, effective and convenient surgical hand scrub. It doesnt leave a sticky residue, goes on easily, dries quickly and feels smooth on the skin characteristics that surgeons and OR staff say they want in a surgical scrub.