In health care settings, accidental suffocation and strangulation can occur due to medical line entanglement. Nurses at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have developed and clinically tested a novel medical line organizer that prevents accidental entanglement, suffocation, and strangulation of hospitalized individuals.

The medical line safety enclosure is a medical tubing or line organizer that prevents accidental entanglement, suffocation, or strangulation to hospital and other types of health care patients. The subject technology was originally developed and invented by a pediatric nurse, working within a clinical setting. According to February 2009's issue of Pediatrics, between 1984 and 2004, the infant mortality rates attributed to accidental suffocation and strangulation in beds increased from 2.8 to 12.5 deaths per 100,000 live births. In most cases of accidental strangulation, the tubing becomes entangled as the patient sleeps and rolls around in the crib or bed. Once the tubing is around the neck, it begins to close off the air supply of the patient, resulting in asphyxiation and possible death.

Similar asphyxiation cases are possible in other types of medical lines or tubing. For example ECG leads, pulse oximeter cables, and auto BP tubing can also become entangled around the patient. Several preventive measures, such as cable coiling or utilizing shorter tubing have been used with limited success.

Potential Fields of Use
The most direct application is in the prevention of injury or death due to strangulation and asphyxiation of pediatric patients being tangled or wrapped in their IV tubing or medical line. Other applications include use with geriatric patients as well in adult operating or surgical rooms and intensive care units.

Benefit Analysis
•Removes entanglement and asphyxiation risk in pediatric patients from IV tubing and other types of medical lines.
•Organizes medical tubing and lines into one single "bundle" for easy management and care.
•Proactively addresses safety and other liability issues with multi-line infusion therapy. No sharps, small parts, or metal in construction of device.
•Easy and less time consuming than other technologies in set-up and tear down for each use.

Stage of Development
The medical line safety enclosure has been field tested for several months within a clinical setting. It has a simple design and operation, requiring minimal development and investment. Further developments in material selection, fastening design and infection control parameters may be needed for final commercialization.

IP Status
A utility patent has been issued for this technology.