New D-RAD SMART PACK™ System from Smith & Nephew is designed to reduce costs and improve efficiency in and out of the operating room

LONDON, Sept. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN; LSE:SN), the global medical technology business, will launch its D-RAD SMART PACK System for treating distal radius fractures at this week's American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) annual meeting in Boston. The new system – which includes four, complete, single-use, sterile instrument kits containing implants, and a tray of sterile packaged fasteners and templates – allows hospital OR staff to reduce the typical process used for reprocessing traditional plate and screw systems from eight-steps down to two.

Traditional workflow for reprocessing distal fracture instruments, plates and screws
vs. D-RAD SMART PACK process: 

"As a company, we are committed to improving the healthcare system for everyone involved: hospitals, surgeons, OR staff and, most importantly, patients," says Mark Waugh, Vice President, Extremities and Limb Restoration for Smith & Nephew. "With the D-RAD SMART PACK System, we've taken a burdensome and costly process and streamlined it without sacrificing the intraoperative flexibility surgeons need to treat patients."

In addition to the potential cost savings that can result from improved workflow efficiency and reduced downtime for instrument sets, the new system offers the confidence of knowing that every set is complete and free from the types of wear and/or contamination that can result from the improper handling or reprocessing of traditional sets.

"This new system truly offers benefit without sacrifice," says Dr. Yngvar Krukhaug, PhD of Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway. "It's like being handed extra time in the day. Knowing I already have a complete and sterile set ready for my next case means that my team and I can spend less time preparing and more time caring for our next patient."  

Each D-RAD SMART PACK set comes with four different single-use kits that each include an anatomically contoured 4-hole volar plate and single-use instrumentation, as well as a tray with individually packaged cortex screws, locking screws, locking pegs and single-use plate templates to assist with kit selection.

The D-RAD system also offers Chart Sticks™ to easily record part numbers for every patient, and individually packed screws that can reduce waste further by eliminating the need to discard unused screws.

About Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business dedicated to helping healthcare professionals improve people's lives. With leadership positions in Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Advanced Wound Management, Sports Medicine and Trauma & Extremities, Smith & Nephew has around 11,000 employees and a presence in more than 90 countries. Annual sales in 2013 were more than $4.3 billion. Smith & Nephew is a member of the FTSE100 (LSE: SN, NYSE: SNN).

For more information about Smith & Nephew, please visit our corporate website www.smith-nephew.com, follow @SmithNephewplc on Twitter or visit SmithNephewplc on Facebook.com

Forward-looking Statements
This document may contain forward-looking statements that may or may not prove accurate. For example, statements regarding expected revenue growth and trading margins, market trends and our product pipeline are forward-looking statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "well-placed", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "consider" and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by the statements. For Smith & Nephew, these factors include: economic and financial conditions in the markets we serve, especially those affecting health care providers, payers and customers; price levels for established and innovative medical devices; developments in medical technology; regulatory approvals, reimbursement decisions or other government actions; product defects or recalls; litigation relating to patent or other claims; legal compliance risks and related investigative, remedial or enforcement actions; strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions, our success in performing due diligence, valuing and integrating acquired businesses; disruption that may result from transactions or other changes we make in our business plans or organisation to adapt to market developments; and numerous other matters that affect us or our markets, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or reputational nature. Please refer to the documents that Smith & Nephew has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith & Nephew's most recent annual report on Form 20-F, for a discussion of certain of these factors. Any forward-looking statement is based on information available to Smith & Nephew as of the date of the statement. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Smith & Nephew are qualified by this caution. Smith & Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in circumstances or in Smith & Nephew's expectations.

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SOURCE Smith & Nephew

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