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Editorial
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Dear reader,
To us, at Ansell Professional Healthcare, July is the start of a new fiscal year – so a good time to look back and take a ‘peep’ into the future ...
The past year has been an exciting one for us. The highlights were our new Gammex® PF Underglove, the surgeon’s premier undercover partner, and the unique Ansell Cytostatic Permeation and Ansell Virus Penetration Programs (ACPP and AVPP), which are gaining recognition the world over.
What do these highlights have in common? They both testify to our quest for excellence and our sharp customer focus. By keeping in close touch with you, we try to understand your needs and cater to them.
In this Ansell InTouch newsletter, you’ll find further proof of our customer-orientedness (e.g. a 9.5 Gammex® PF), information on product updates and echoes from the field. And we kindly ask you to complete an online survey, which will, again, help us keep our finger on the pulse…
While many of you will be relaxing, adventuring or enjoying culture, we will be getting ready for a challenging new year with many new products and solutions. More on this in the next edition of Ansell InTouch.
For now, enjoy the reading and have a great – and safe – summer holiday!
Werner Heintz
Sr Vice President & Regional Director Europe,
Ansell Healthcare
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Bigger hands require bigger gloves!
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Another world first from Ansell: our best-selling Gammex PF® glove now comes in size 9.5, a good half size larger than the biggest surgical gloves on today’s European market.
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The demand for a larger surgical glove came from the surgeons themselves. Quite a few of them suffer from hand fatigue, compromised circulation to the fingers and increased perspiration due to over-tight gloves. A larger size will really come in handy – especially when double gloving. So Ansell decided to add a size 9.5 to its Gammex PF range, which has been the most popular surgical glove ever since its launch.
For many surgeons who’ve been using a size 9 until now, the launch of the 9.5 is good news. This additional choice will result in something closer to a custom-fit, and should considerably reduce end-of-day hand fatigue. Another token of Ansell's concern for providing the very best solutions in the fields of both protection and comfort....
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New on AnsellCares
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Your feedback teaches us that more and more InTouch readers are finding their way to the AnsellCares website. To keep you posted on what’s hot in hand protection, we’ve recently added two more keynote lectures which are available, as always, in nine languages:
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- Hand Eczema, by Dr Brehler, Dermatologist at the Munster University hospital in Germany: a lecture on allergies and skin irritation due to glove wearing.
- Prevention of VRE Transmission, by Dr Jarvis: a lecture on Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus (VRE), one of the five most common pathogens in healthcare- associated infections.
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| A beach ball set ... for your answers! |
Let’s lift that holiday feeling... We've reserved a small summer gadget for you: a nice beach ball set.
It is all yours if you just take a few minutes of your time to fill out our online questionnaire. Thanks a lot and ...
happy holidays!
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ASiT tapping in to Ansell's knowledge base
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“Surgical training is hard enough on your own. Membership of speciality organisations is vital for the healthy dissemination of information, education and ideas,” writes the UK Association of Surgeons in Training (ASiT) on its website. More than a Golden Sponsor, Ansell Healthcare is a partner of ASiT, as there are many worthwhile opportunities for cooperation. ASiT has asked us, for example, to educate trainees on the importance of proper gloving.
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Founded in 1976, ASiT is a forum for senior registrars to meet socially and discuss training matters. Today, it is the second largest and fastest growing surgical speciality association in the UK, with over 2000 members from all nine surgical specialities. ASiT represents the views of its membership through representation on the councils of numerous working parties and committees.
Ansell’s educational role
Ansell is a proud Golden Sponsor of ASiT. But more than financial support, we also gladly put our extensive expertise in handcare at its disposal. ASiT has, for example, invited us to present our solutions and share our expertise during the ‘Foundation Introductory Surgical Skills’ courses, aimed at junior-level trainees and medical students.
Hot topic: double gloving
Every year, ASiT holds a conference to provide its members with new insights in the field of healthcare. The 2007 Conference took place in Belfast, on 30 March and 1 April. At the Advanced Trauma Surgical Care (ATSC) course, a new initiative was held on the eve of the event – members were invited to develop their surgical trauma skills under the close eye of some leading national and international experts. Double gloving was one of the hot items on the agenda.
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Ansell goes undercover with UK surgeons
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From the 18th to 20th April, Manchester was host to a big group of the UK’s surgeons, visiting the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI). They were treated to a mix of high-end presentations and could visit the exhibition. Ansell put its Gammex® PF Underglove on stage.
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The 2007 Annual Scientific Meeting was the ASGBI's largest and best attended meeting to date, with 1,217 abstracts submitted and 1,182 medical delegates. After adding on the exhibitors and visitors, the total attendance was 1,600 plus, spread over the 3-day event.
Finger on the pulse
Ansell was the only hand protection specialist exhibiting. In our view, such exhibitions are an ideal opportunity to present our solutions package and, at the same time, to keep our finger on the pulse of the needs and wants of the participants, i.e. the surgeons and the medical teams. The huge interest in our new Gammex PF Underglove proved that more and more surgeons now appreciate the need to double glove.
Enthusiasm
Amongst the visitors to our booth were many confirmed Ansell glove wearers, like Mr. Muhammad Nadeem, who introduced himself with: “I’m one of the surgeons who always enjoys using Ansell gloves.”
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XIVth Meeting of the European Surgical Association
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In addition to the AsiT and ASGBI meetings, Ansell has recently also supported the XIVth meeting of the prestigious European Surgical Association (ESA) in Dublin, on the 13th and 14th of April.
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At its annual get-together, the ESA assembles its members, including the continent’s – even the world’s - top surgeons, to freely and openly discuss their latest clinical and research findings. On the agenda are a series of high-end presentations on the latest developments in the field of surgery.
ESA doesn't invite private companies to have a booth or present their solutions at its annual meetings, but Ansell considers it an honour to be able to sponsor such an important conference.
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| Getting closer to speciality associations |
Ansell has been participating in quite a few seminars organized by speciality associations over the past few months. This presence is most valuable to us, as it creates an opportunity to get feedback from the people we design our gloves for. Also, we believe we can deliver substantial added value through our educational programs, based on years’ of hand protection expertise.
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New undercover partner for La Clinique Herbert: Gammex® PF Underglove
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Situated within easy reach of the ambulances of the big Alpine winter sports resorts, the Clinique Herbert hospital is particularly busy during the winter months. With one medical intervention after another the surgeons were, until recently, confronted with serious problems of hand irritation and red skin on the forearms. But they’ve found a new undercover partner… Thanks to Ansell’s Gammex® PF Underglove, they are now leaving the operating theatre with soft hands and supple skin!
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The Clinique Herbert, founded on the heights of Aix-les-Bains in the French Alpes in 1980, is a surgical hospital, treating mainly orthopaedic cases, with a very solid reputation in the treatment of ski-ing casualties. With a capacity of 89 beds and ca. 100 healthcare staff, including 12 surgeons, the hospital has a surgical throughput of over 24 000 cases per year. During the three winter months, Doctor Thierry Verjux, one of the three orthopaedic surgeons, performs an average of over 150 interventions on victims of ski accidents, on top of his day-to-day consultations.
Protect hands against punctures
At the Clinique Herbert, like in all hospitals, orthopaedic surgeons run a high risk of receiving percutaneous exposures to bloodborne pathogens, from patients with hepatitis (HBV & HCV) and HIV. "The tools and equipment we use and the many orthoplasties we install require quite some pressure. Consequently, the risk of glove puncture – and, as such, blood contamination – is even more likely than during general surgery," explained Dr. Verjux. "Now and then our gloves get stuck in the axes of our instruments. Not to mention bone splinters, which cause perforation without our knowledge. The breached glove barrier is only noticed when the gloves are removed."
A never-ending stream of medical interventions
It’s not unusual for doctor Verjux to be in the operating theatre for 12 interventions on end, in wintertime. The uninterrupted glove wearing and the frequent hand washing with aggressive disinfectants had, until recently, disastrous consequences for the skin. "At the end of every winter I had the feeling that my hands and forearms were all redness and irritation," the man recalled.
High quality and low allergenicity
To reduce the perforation rate, and the attendant risk of exposure, the surgeons of the Clinique Herbert began to double glove, changing their gloves every hour. In addition, the medical team brought in new hand protection and washing measures. In an effort towards greater harmonization, the management decided to rely on one, single supplier for its medical glove range. Ansell was selected because of the impeccable quality of its services and of its products, including (and not least) very low allergenicity thanks to a near-total lack of latex proteins and endogenous allergens.
A winning combination
"We chose a winning combination of hydro-alcoholic solutions and powder-free undergloves," Dr. Verjux continued. "I got an opportunity to test Ansell’s Gammex PF Underglove over an entire skiing season. It was my very first winter without any serious skin problems. With the green gloves – which makes us look a bit like extraterrestrials – the incidence of excess transpiration and humid hands arenegligible. The gloves have a high tear resistance and don’t pinch at the end of one’s fingers; they fit perfectly and have a softer ‘feel’ than other gloves. On top of that, Ansell’s HydraSoft® technology, which is integrated into the inner coating ensures easy donning, while hydrating the skin at the same time. Consequently, it protects the skin from rashes due to long glove wearing and frequent contact with antibacterial solutions. "
Protection, dexterity and comfort
By choosing Ansell’s Gammex PF Underglove, the Clinique Herbert ensures optimal protection for its surgeons against infectious diseases and reduces the allergy risk for healthcare staff and latex-sensitive patients alike. In addition, the glove provides anatomical comfort and higher dexterity levels. "Since I’ve been using the Gammex PF Underglove in combination with the hydro-alcoholic solutions, my fingers have remained supple and I no longer suffer from irritation of the forearm," Dr. Verjux concluded.
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| “Undercover’ campaign reaps award |
A new member of the successful Gammex family, the Gammex® PF Underglove is a surgeon’s perfect undercover partner for double gloving. Its mission is identical to that of the surgeon: to provide optimal protection during (risky) operations. Ansell teased the healthcare sector with a themed campaign to coincide with the launch of the Gammex PF Underglove. The campaign was very well received!
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EN standard on biological safety of gloves updated
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Like all glove manufacturers, Ansell is required to check its gloves for biological safety, such as evidence of skin irritation. To regulate how we should conduct these biological safety tests and how to label our gloves, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) issued the EN455-3 standard for single-use medical gloves. Last year, this standard was revised and updated. So what’s new in this edition?
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EN455-3:2006, replacing its 1999 predecessor, was approved by the CEN in October 2006 and recently implemented by the CEN member bodies. The updated standard sets several new requirements. These include, for example, updates on the methods for monitoring the process limit of leachable protein in natural rubber gloves and the endotoxin contamination of sterile gloves; tightly defined limits for leachable powder, residual chemicals and endotoxin content; new guidelines for the test reports, etc. Distributors and end-users, however, will mainly notice the different labelling on our single-use latex gloves.
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Latex symbol and warning statement
To comply with the new directives, medical gloves for single use containing natural rubber will now contain the following or equivalent warning statement: “Contains natural rubber latex which may cause allergic reactions, including anaphylactic responses”. In addition, they will now be labelled on the packaging with the following symbol:
As you’ll soon notice, the packaging of all Ansell latex gloves will change so as to comply with the above-mentioned guidelines.
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Improving health conditions: Ansell and Special Olympics join forces
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Admiration, amazement and respect. These are the feelings we brought home after attending the inauguration day of the 26th Belgian Special Olympics. Combined with, not to forget, a measure of pride, as Ansell has been able to support the Healthy Athletes Program, a unique side event of the Olympics, through a donation of medical gloves.
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Since its inception in 1969, the Special Olympics has become the world's largest program of sports training and athletic competition for adults and children with intellectual disabilities. In many countries, this unique happening is being coupled to the Healthy Athletes side-event, providing athletes with a variety of free health screenings.
Healthy Athletes
The objective of the Healthy Athletes initiative is twofold: improve the health and fitness of people with mental disabilities and gain a deeper insight into their health needs and abilities.
During the last Belgian Special Olympics in May, for example, the athletes were checked for good mouth hygiene, hearing, eyes, feet and physical condition. The results from the 'Fun Fitness' screening will form the basis for a full scientific study.
Sponsorship fits our credo
It was at this Belgian Healthy Athletes event that Ansell made a difference by donating 5 000 non-latex Micro-Touch® Nitrile® gloves. Ansell is glad that it was able to supportthis project, which, once again, perfectly fits our credo: “to improve the health of everyone.”
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