Access Scientific Launches Rapid Venous Access Device—POWERWAND ED

Access Scientific LLC announced the release of its new POWERWAND ED, a rapid venous access device that delivers the first- and best-in-class POWERWAND (6cm/2.4 inch) Extended Dwell Catheter in seconds, using the proprietary accelerated Seldinger technique (AST). The POWERWAND ED allows clinicians to rapidly achieve vascular access via a “no touch” option that accelerates treatment of emergency patients.
 
“Ideally, all patients would have their lines placed using sterile technique and careful skin antisepsis—and, in fact, this is what we instruct,” said Steve Bierman, M.D., the company’s chief medical officer and a former emergency physician. “But we also recognize that emergency clinicians face truly emergent conditions that often preclude the ideal set up. POWERWAND ED allows clinicians to safely insert the POWERWAND extended-dwell catheter in seconds, without having to touch the catheter.”
 
Other all-in-one devices insert traditional polyurethane peripheral catheters, proven in one instance to last on average only 58 hours and to carry the serious risk of bloodstream infection. In contrast, the POWERWAND ED places a proprietary POWERWAND Extended Dwell Catheter, with an average dwell time of 10.7 days and over 20,000 catheter-days (for the 4Fr and 5Fr models) with no bloodstream infections.
 
Recent clinical trials of POWERWAND ED have garnered praise from emergency physicians nationwide. Said one doctor in a busy urban Midwestern hospital, “Fantastic. It goes in like butter.” Other physicians have referred to the AST insertion as “smooth as silk,” “slips right in—remarkable,” and “super-fast.” The POWERWAND ED is especially useful for ultrasound-guided IVs, due to its longer 2.4 inch length and ChronoFlex C kink-resistance. Standard PIVs have a published median dwell time of only 56 hours; whereas, in a recent comparative clinical trial, the POWERWAND 2.4 inch, 19.5 gauge catheter demonstrated an average dwell time of 10.7 days. With ultrasound-guided IVs becoming the standard of care in emergency departments, the POWERWAND ED is designed to meet the urgent needs of patients with difficult IV access.
 
The POWERWAND ED introduction completes the triad of trauma products recently introduced by Access Scientific. The other two products are: POWERWAND REC (Rapid Exchange Catheter) and POWERWAND CVC (single-lumen, 16 gauge CVC). All three products allow for the rapid cannulation of the peripheral and/or central circulation with POWERWAND catheters.

Access Scientific LLC, based in San Diego, Calif., is an evidence-based, infection prevention company offering vascular access devices designed to reduce the need for and risk of vascular device-related complications, including bloodstream infections.