Edison Nation Medical Seeks Innovations To Reduce the Risk of EKG-Lead Wire Contamination

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Edison Nation Medical, a healthcare innovation portal, today announced a worldwide search for product ideas to replace the existing EKG lead wires used throughout hospitals, in nursing homes, and within homes for the purpose of monitoring patients.  The goal of this search is to identify cost-effective disposable EKG leads, more-easily sterilizable EKG leads, or wireless technologies -- any of which would help reduce the current risk contamination and the potential spread of infections. 

The Edison Nation Medical innovation search is open to the public, globally. Edison Nation Medical will carefully evaluate all ideas submitted and work to license the most promising innovations, sharing any resulting royalties with the inventor(s) involved. Submissions should be made to Edison Nation Medical's confidential and secure online portal at www.EdisonNationMedical.com/EKG through July 28.

Re-useable EKG leads (also called ECG leads) are currently cleaned manually by healthcare workers or caregivers, as they cannot be sterilized by steam or hydrogen peroxide, which is the common practice with many other shared devices and surfaces in a healthcare setting.  Today, re-useable EKG leads and cables are cleaned according to the manufacturer's recommendation (typically a disposable wipe), however, these devices are difficult to clean as they have numerous indentations where a patient's blood and body fluids can easily collect.  Furthermore, the leads and cables are often cleaned quickly due to fast turn-around time required in many healthcare settings. 

Research points to EKG leads being a source of nosocomial pathogens.  In a research study by the Cleveland Clinic, 62.8% of the lead wires showed bacterial growth and of those, 37.8% were of at- or potential-risk bacteria. Hospital acquired infections, which can be serious and even life-threatening, occur on average in one out of every 20 patients admitted to the hospital.  Disposable EKGs are available and eliminate the possibility of contamination, but are expensive at $15-16 per unit versus the re-usable leads which are often provided at no cost with the monitoring system. 

Possible innovations may include:

• Sterilizable lead wires which can go through standard sterilization protocols (wet, high temp, chemicals)
• Low cost disposable leads
• Wireless leads
• Any other innovative ideas that could serve the same purpose 

Joining Edison Nation Medical is free.  Ideas submitted to the organization's confidential and secure online portal cost only $25 to submit and are vetted through an in-depth review process led by a team of medical, product development and legal experts. The end goal is to commercialize each qualified product idea and, when Edison Nation Medical is successful, licensing royalties are shared with the submitting inventor(s).

Inventors are encouraged to submit everything from a back-of-the-envelope sketch to patented and prototype ideas to currently commercialized products looking to scale.

Robert Grajewski, president of Edison Nation Medical, states, "The spread of hospital-acquired infections is a critical issue within healthcare today and one that Edison Nation Medical will continue to address through a variety of open innovation searches such as this one in order to solve. Our goal is to uncover innovative solutions to replace the current standard of care for EKG monitoring so that we can keep patients safer while reducing costs."

For more information or to submit an idea, go to www.EdisonNationMedical.com/EKG.

About Edison Nation Medical: 

Edison Nation Medical is a healthcare innovation portal with deep expertise in open innovation, product development, and healthcare. Born out of collaboration with Carolinas HealthCare System (the second largest public health system in the United States), Edison Nation Medical's mission is to break down the barriers to healthcare innovation. We make this a reality by providing a clear and easy pathway through our open innovation platform for anyone — physicians, nurses, entrepreneurs, even patients and caregivers — to submit a medical invention idea for full evaluation and potential commercialization.

Edison Nation Medical innovation headquarters is in Charlotte, NC with satellite offices in San Francisco and New York City. For more information, please visit www.EdisonNationMedical.com.

SOURCE Edison Nation Medical