Blog: Shadowing my mom in the medical market

ELYRIA, Ohio—Since before I was born, my mother, Dana Karpus, has worked in the medical community. She started as a nurse 35 years ago and currently works as a nurse manager at University Hospitals Elyria Medical center on the 10th floor in Elyria: 10 Smythe.

As I grew up, mom spoke in medical industry abbreviations we never understood at the dinner table. When I was about 13, I participated in “Bring your child to work day,” which happened to land on a busy day, so I spent the whole time watching a heart rate monitor. I vowed I never would return.

Little did I know that 15 years later, as a reporter for Rubber & Plastics News, I would be fascinated by the medical technological advancements involving rubber, plastics and silicones.

My first foray into the medical market was at MD&M West in February, and since then I have had a lot more work-related topics to discuss with my mother. In the spirit of “Bring your child to work day”—which is Thursday, April 23 this year—I shadowed my mom for a day and saw a lot more than the heart monitors this time (even though I did see those too).

While I learned things that could be useful across any industry, I got to see how important the rubber and plastics industries are to the medical community. My mom introduced me to various co-workers, and I got to see how rubber and plastics are used on the floor, in the emergency room, operating room, central services and wound care.

Here is what I learned:

After making rounds, mom took me into the store room on the floor. I saw that nearly everything somehow involved a plastic or a rubber. One of the biggest changes in health care, she said, occurred about 10 years ago, when the medical community started turning toward latex-free. Patients with latex allergies used to have to wear wristbands to denote their allergy, but this notification is no longer needed.

We looked through injectables, foley catheters, isolation gowns and more that use flexible plastics that greatly improve accuracy and patient comfort.

For instance, the IV pumps now have what my mom called a “brain” in them, which can dispense the proper amount of medicine accurately. This leaves less chance for human error. With these automated pumps, the technology has changed, so the tubing technology has had to change along with it.

“Everything that we do is for patient safety,” she said.

Another big change my mom has seen involves disposable blood pressure cuffs, which are great for patients in isolation. There are made from a flexible plastic material and thrown out after one use. She showed me some liquid adhesives and adhesive removers they are testing to assist with patient comfort.

While sitting in my mom's office for a minute, Sandra Nagle popped in during her busy schedule to speak about her profession. “Silicones are good because they don't stick to the wound bed, therefore when they are removed, they're less painful, which is great for patients,” she said.

In her experience, Nagle said she has had success when using silicone and foam-based wound products.

Foam dressings are very absorbent, so they can handle varying amounts of drainage, which means the dressing doesn't need to be changed as frequently.

These are also more comfortable for the patient when they are removed, she said. Patients have told her that dressing removal with silicone and foam-based wound products is more comfortable.

Nagle hopes silicones and foams used in wound care continue to evolve. “I'm always working on getting new products in here,” she said.

Adding foams and silicones has been a big change in the industry, she said.

“I have seen multiple changes,” Kim Maben said when asked if rubber, plastics and silicones have changed much over the years in Central Services. She said one of the most important things anyone can do is read the instructions for these products, such as how many uses they can have.

The FDA only approves some products for a certain number of uses, so the department built a catalogue to keep track.

For instance, the other day she received a Magna-Mat, which is a silicone mat for holding surgical instruments, used for dermatology procedures. The manufacturer recommended that the FDA approve and test it for 30 uses. She called the manufacturer to see exactly what that meant: Could it still be used after 30 uses, and if so, what kind of protocols should be followed. As products and technology change, so do some of the procedures, and it's important for everyone to stay up-to-date.

Maben said she doesn't see much latex in Central Services. While certain products are latex-based, more and more are being converted to latex-free. This is in response to increased latex allergies and sensitivity.

While colonoscopy scopes and some implants come through Central Services, one of the items we spent the most time speaking about was the rubber feet on commode chairs.

“The chairs slide across the floor if they don't have the rubber feet on them. Patient safety,” mom said during the discussion.

This is something I thought about afterward. It's not just these fascinating high-technology elements that are important. Sometimes it is the simplest things that are important. And I would imagine these elements could be overlooked easily.

Next up on our hospital tour was Joe Pribanic. We went into the ER store room, and his reaction was priceless: “I'm hard-pressed to find things that aren't (rubber or plastic).”

Nearly everything we inspected, from neck braces with plastics and foam, to facemasks, IV catheters (some of which are silicone), include rubber and plastic components. Even the test tubes are no longer made from glass, but of plastic.

“I don't know whatever we did without plastic,” he added.

While in the store room, we ran into Rhonda White, clinical material handler, who said they have revamped the store rooms over the years. There is very little latex anywhere. For the operating room store rooms, all latex-free items have dots near them to denote they are latex-free.

Our last stop was with Tonya Hurst. Her department deals with much plastics and silicones and continues to see a decline of latex products. She told me that the pulmonary artery catheters they use, which go directly into the heart and measure pressure, are now latex-free.

Other products used in the surgery department that depend on the rubber and plastics industry include: some urology materials, foley catheters, pressure equalizer tubes for children's ears, nasal trumpets (nasopharyngeal airways), hemorrhoid bands, tourniquets and Tenckhoff catheter for peritoneal dialysis.

She said the disposable product market has really taken off. “The disposable products have definitely increased greatly compared to what it was when I first started,” she said.

While some of it is for patient safety and comfort, other factors weigh heavily in the surgery department. “A lot of it for us is efficiency,” she said. “Instead of having to re-do everything, you can just throw it away and get new.”

I am really glad I visited the hospital. I have a much better understanding of how important the rubber and plastics industries are to their end markets, and mom got to show me off. Isn't that a favorite pastime of every parent?

Are you bringing your child to work on Thursday? Let me know at @jenniferkarpus or [email protected]