United States: The first peer review journal article regarding the efficacy of the VeinViewer® imaging system was recently released in the September/October issue of Pediatric Nursing®. Adding to a sizeable existing body of evidence, this article reaches the upper echelon of the stringent level-of-evidence requirements for medical devices. VeinViewer, available since the fall of 2006, has been adopted by hospitals and clinics worldwide to help improve peripheral vascular access. The device uses harmless near-infrared light and other patented technologies to project a digital image of patient vasculature directly onto the surface of the skin. The article entitled “A Biomedical Device to Improve Pediatric Vascular Access Success” demonstrates the clinical efficacy of the device by discussing the significantly positive effects of the technology on the first stick success rate, the time to start an IV and the overall patient and staff experience.

“VeinViewer nearly doubled the first stick success rate in this, first-of-many-to-come peer review studies. These kinds of results have an incredibly positive domino effect for the hospital and the patient,” states Chris Schnee, general manager, VP sales and marketing for Christie Medical Holdings (Christie Medical), the maker of VeinViewer. Staff and patients involved in the study had great things to say about the technology. “It took eight sticks last time, this time it took one,” said the family of one patient1. Schnee says that reducing the number of sticks and time to achieve access is not VeinViewer’s only benefit. “While this study proves our pre-access benefits, it is not only about finding the optimal site to start an IV. VeinViewer is the only device of its kind that can help a nurse assess the refill rate of the vessel being selected as well as help detect the presence of extracellular blood after a vein has burst or become perforated. It is because of the combination of benefit before and after the IV placement that we can positively affect patient outcomes.”

The article also evaluates the potential savings with the use of the VeinViewer. For instance, a hospital that places 1,000 IVs per month, a modest number compared to most facilities, could potentially save over $80,000 a year1. In an age where medical devices must demonstrate not only clinical benefit, but a positive impact to the bottom line, facilities evaluating the benefit of the VeinViewer device can quickly input their own data to the Christie Return on Investment (ROI) Calculator. Hospitals can utilize the ROI Calculator to understand the economic benefit they can expect from the deployment of VeinViewer throughout departments that perform IV access.