SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — ICU
Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:
ICUI) today announced that three different clinical studies
presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for
Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) April 1-4 in Dallas
showed that the MicroCLAVE neutral displacement needleless
connector helps significantly reduce the risk of bacterial
contamination and limit the incidence of hospital-acquired
bloodstream infection when used in connection with an IHI bundle.
ICU Medical initiated the full market release of the MicroCLAVE
Clear at this year’s SHEA meeting, highlighting the connector’s
clear housing that allows for visualization of the internal fluid
path upon flushing and its ability to allow clinicians to
effectively clear blood and blood residual with flush volumes as
low as 2.0 mL.(1)

In a poster titled Three Years Experience of Central Line
Associated Bloodstream Infections in the Intensive Care Units and
Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit at an Academic Medical Center,
researchers Concepcion N. Moore, RN, MBA, CIC , et al from the
University Medical Center in Tucson, AZ showed that the rate of
catheter-related bloodstream infections declined by 43% following
the hospital-wide implementation of an IHI central line bundle that
included the use of ICU Medical CLAVE® and MicroCLAVE
connectors. Infection rates at the facility dropped from 5.09% in
2007 to 2.06% in 2010(1). The University Medical Center also uses
both the MicroCLAVE Clear and Antimicrobial MicroCLAVE.(2)

Marcia Ryder, PhD, MS, RN, presented a poster titled
Differences in Bacterial Transfer and Fluid Path Colonization
through Needlefree Connector-Catheter Systems In-Vitro that
evaluated differences in transfer of bacteria through the
connector-catheter system and biofilm formation using an in-vitro
model designed to simulate clinical use.

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