QGuard
Innovation - QGuard 7 day Antimicrobial protection
Salveo Medical offer our full range of Anaesthetic Breathing Circuits including Standard Circle, Expandable tubing, Paediatric and Advanced Design QTube Bilumen.. all available to purchase with the innovative QGuard AntiMicrobial protection.
Why use a circuit for 7 days?
Many Public and Private Hospitals are converting to a disposable circuit which can be used for up to 7 days to save money and also greatly reduce the environmental impact of plastic waste by up to 80%..
What are the associated risks with using a standard disposable circuit for 7 days?
While most standard single use disposable circuits will probably withstand 7 days usage, there is a high risk of bacteria contaminating the circuit over this period.
Assuming a new high quality breathing filter is used with every patient, the inside of the circuit is not such an issue. There is a much higher risk associated with the outside of the circuit, which can be splashed with bacteria laden; sputum, saliva, blood, irrigation fluid or other fluids present in the operating theatre environment. It is also easy to transfer bacteria from patient/equipment to the circuit and reservoir bag via gloved hand transmission for example when the LMA is inserted, ET tube removed, handling a laryngoscope or when touching the patients skin.
If unchecked, these bacteria can continue to multiply over the 7 day period and potentially cross infect patients and clinicians who come into contact with the circuit.
What is the difference with the QGuard range of breathing circuits?
The innovative circuits now incorporate the QGuard Anti-microbial additive in all components including the reservoir bags.
QGuard uses Silver Ion technology which has been successfully tested on over 50 different bacteria species found in Hospitals. It has been proven to reduce harmful levels of MRSA, E Coli, Salmonella and Camplyobacter by up to 99.99%.
QGuard has also been proven to remove over 80% of these bacteria in as little as 15 minutes and be 99.99% effective within 2 hours.
How do QGuard Silver Ions stop bacteria growing?
There are 3 different modes of action. They bind to bacteria cell surfaces, disrupting cell walls and preventing cell growth. Silver Ions are attracted to thiol groups in cell enzymes, inhibiting bacterium producing energy. Also, Silver Ions interrupt cell DNA impeding replication and new cell formation.
The QGuard 3 stage mode of action does not allow bacteria cells to develop resistance, making this technology future proof and highly effective against antibiotic resistant species.
QGuard has been proven to see 99.9% bacterial protection against infection for up to 168 hours based upon independent clinical tests to ISO 22196:2011 standards.
Using QGuard makes it much safer to reuse a circuit for up to 7 days in combination with suitable disinfection regime between patients.
We have also included a QGuard 7 day circuit change label which is attached to the circuit to ensure the circuit is changed on time and for traceability purposes.