The US Patent Office issued US Patent No 11,324,910 to ReddyPort Inc to cover its positive pressure ventilation appliance modules and related systems and methods, the company reports.
ReddyPort products promote NIV success by empowering clinicians with efficient access to provide standardized oral care without removing the mask or loss of therapeutic pressures. Clinicians recognize delivering effective and compliant oral care to the NIV patient can be particularly challenging.
Studies show respiratory pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonize the dental plaque and can vaporize or aspirate into the lungs, particularly during NIV therapy. Consequently, patients are up to six times more likely to develop HAP if the mouth is persistently colonized by such pathogens.1 Clinical evidence shows that improved routine cleaning of the oral biofilm provides primary source control of HAP pathogens and reduces HAP incidence.2
ReddyPort patented NIV maintenance products include single use components which allow oral care to be performed on NIV patients without removing the mask. A unique feature of the ReddyPort appliances is the integrated protective guard that mates with the self-sealing valve of the ReddyPort Elbow to prevent air leaks during use, help maintain therapeutic pressures and prevent liquids or moisturizer from squeegeeing into the mask.
With the ReddyPort System, clinicians can eliminate un-approved and ineffective “work arounds” that delay, abbreviate or eliminate compliant oral decontamination with NIV patients. Researchers have found a critical relationship between oral microflora and hospital-acquired pneumonia.3-6 During the first 48 hours of hospitalization, especially in the absence of regular oral care, changes occur in an individual’s oral microbiota that are associated with virulent pneumonia-causing organisms. Maintaining regular oral care for patients on NIV is a key prevention strategy of NV-HAP.7
“We must change the mindset of nurses and other health care providers from seeing oral care as a comfort measure to recognizing oral care as a therapeutic intervention and oral care products as therapeutic devices,” says Dr. Dian Baker (Ph.D., RN, APRN-BC).8
1-8 Source: ReddyPort
Image: Integrated protective guard appliances: applicator swab, suction swab, silicone toothbrush, Yankauer with silicone tip and yankauer handle (shown left to right); photo credit: ReddyPort
