TUCSON, Ariz., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- To protect doctors and patients, the medical profession has long been using sterile disposable scalpel blades, but until now, surgical nurses have been unnecessarily exposed to dangerous cuts and contaminants while removing blades. With QlickSmart, the first-ever single-handed solution for blade removal, nurses simply direct the blade into a mounted cartridge with one hand, listen for the click, and then pull out the scalpel. Before QlickSmart, blade removal was a two-handed procedure involving one hand on the scalpel and the other handling the contaminated blade. All-too-often, dangerous cuts resulted.
"QlickSmart is about protecting nurses," offered Chris Jones, President of Quanta Technologies. "Several years ago, we offered a non-sterile QlickSmart system for use in veterinary and mortuary medicine, and now we are introducing an OSHA-approved sterile system for use in operating rooms."
The QlickSmart sterile cartridge was originally developed by Doctor Neville Henry of Brisbane, Australia. Quanta expects that operating rooms around the world will adopt the QlickSmart system.
"QlickSmart is safe, convenient and cost-effective," suggested Chris Jones. "At about thirty-five cents, the costs are far less than the potential costs of exposure to cuts and contaminants." The US consumes around 130 million scalpel blades annually. Last year, there were more than a half million scalpel and needle stick injuries in US hospitals, which led to 1,400 HIV and Hepatitis infections. Apart from the emotional and psychological trauma for those injured, these injuries costs the US economy nearly a half billion dollars in lost work hours, reporting procedures and potential litigation.
While some hospitals now use safety scalpels, many surgeons say that they don't feel like "real scalpels." After years of training and experience with existing tools, most surgeons continue to use conventional scalpels and scalpel blades, despite the risk of injury. The QlickSmart system works with most conventional scalpels, which means nurses can avoid injury, hospitals can avoid liability, and that surgeons can continue to use high-quality steel scalpels without compromising their safety.
About Quanta Technologies
Quanta was founded in 1994 as a distributor of medical laser technologies and a provider of laser service and is today the largest regional supplier of lasers to hospitals and surgery centers. For more information, visit http://www.quantaweb.com /.
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http://www.quantaweb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=178
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Quanta TechnologiesCONTACT: Chris Jones of Quanta Technologies, +1-520-887-9122
