Smiths Medical is ensuring its customers are prepared for the transition from Luer to non-Luer connectors following the publication of a new standard from the International Standards Organisation (ISO).
The ISO 80369-6, known globally as NRFit, is designed to help end users and clinicians identify the correct product for relative neuraxial procedures. Smiths Medical has created a range of materials to support clinicians and healthcare organisations during the transition to NRFit. The support and advice is based on the Sentinel Alert 53 – Managing risk during transition to new ISO tubing connector standards.
Smiths Medical has worked closely with the Barema Special Interest Group for neuraxial applications - which connects industry and leading clinicians - to develop tools and provide support as the NHS and other healthcare organisations make the transition to NRFit. Barema Special Interest Group members Paul Sharpe, consultant anaesthetist, University Hospitals of Leicester, Ian Shaw, consultant anaesthetist, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Pete Phillips, director, Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory, Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, have written a guide: ‘ISO 80369-6 Implementation of Neuraxial Devices in the UK’ –based on their own experiences of implementing the new standard. The guide has been put together to help hospital Trusts set up a working group, to assist them in working towards converting to the new standard
The ‘ISO 80369-6 Implementation of Neuraxial Devices in the UK’ guide can be downloaded from the Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association (OAA) website at www.oaa-anaes.ac.uk or the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain & Ireland (AAGBI) website at www.aagbi.org
