Medisafe 1 Technologies Corp. (MFTH) Offers Solution to Billion Dollar Health Care Problem
Imagine the following scenario:
A metropolitan hospital or medical center has two patients with the same or similar names housed in the same room. Although steps are usually taken to avoid things like this, the high volume of patient traffic, together with room shortages, continually changing shifts of support staff, and other factors mean situations like this can and do happen. Later, a nurse that has just started her shift and is unfamiliar with the patients proceeds to administer a scheduled medication to the wrong patient in the room. The medication given reacts with medication the patient is already using, resulting in injury or even death to the unknowing patient.
In our perceived age of medical enlightenment, it can be hard to accept that the kind of basic mistake described above is still a very real problem. Medication errors do happen, and a significant contributing factor is mistaken administration, including giving the right medicine to the wrong patient. In a high-volume healthcare environment, patients with identical or similar names, and perhaps similar profiles, can sometimes cause serious mixups that even the most carefully laid out procedures fail to prevent. According to the National Priorities Partnership, inpatient medication errors in the U.S. are estimated to result in costs of over $16 billion annually, while the Institute of Medicine estimates 7,000 deaths in the U.S. each year come from preventable medication errors.
Medisafe 1 Technologies believes it has the right answer to at least part of the problem. The company develops patented technologies that prevent the unauthorized administration of prescription medications. Specifically, they offer a protector device with a locking mechanism that ensures the medicine is only released from the hypodermic needle after positive technology-based pre-matching with the patient through the use of barcode technology. The locking element is released electronically only on positive match.
For more information, see the company website at www.medisafe1.com
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