BETHLEHEM, PA – April 27, 2016 – As a leader in infusion therapy committed to enhancing clinician safety, B. Braun Medical Inc.’s booth and education session at this year’s Oncology Nursing Society Annual Congress will focus on awareness and education of USP <800> compliance and the handling of hazardous drugs in healthcare settings.

“The new USP <800> will require the use of a closed-system drug transfer device for administration when the dosage form allows,” said Joe Cleary, Group Product Director for OnGuard™, B. Braun’s CSTD. “As one of the leading suppliers of CSTD’s in the United States, we feel it’s our responsibility to help nurses learn how to take proactive steps to protect patients, co-workers and themselves.”

The Oncology Nursing Society 41st Annual (ONS 2016) Congress will be held April 28 – May 1, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX. At B. Braun’s booth #1125, attendees can walk through a simulated pharmacy and patient’s room with healthcare experts to answer questions on how to integrate CSTDs into their health system and learn more about the OnGuard CSTD.

B. Braun also is sponsoring a Continuing Nursing Education Symposium featuring Amber Hogan Mitchell, DrPH, MPH, CPH from the International Safety Center and Marty Polovich PhD, RN, AOCN author of the second edition ONS Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs. The presentation – “Empowering Nurses. Improving Patient Safety: Making the Case for Building Safer Systems to Reduce Exposures to Hazardous Drugs” – will take place on Wednesday, April 27, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt Lonestar Ballroom, ABC. Due to limited seating capacity, a digital recording of the presentation will be available by the end of May.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 8 million U.S. healthcare workers are potentially exposed to hazardous drugs, including pharmacy and nursing personnel, physicians, operating room personnel, environmental services workers, workers in research laboratories, veterinary care workers, and shipping and receiving personnel.¹ According to the CDC, published studies have shown that workplace exposures to hazardous drugs can cause both acute and chronic health effects such as skin rashes, adverse reproductive outcomes (including infertility, spontaneous abortions, and congenital malformations), and possibly leukemia and other cancers. The health risk depends on how much exposure a worker has to these drugs and how toxic they are.¹

At its booth, B. Braun also will showcase several devices that help protect healthcare workers from needlestick injuries:

• Introcan Safety® IV Catheter – Designed with innovative, fully automatic passive-safety features to help eliminate accidental needlestick injury effortlessly. From insertion to catheter deployment to needle removal, clinicians are protected by a truly passive safety device that is activated automatically – no extra steps required and cannot be bypassed.
  
• Introcan Safety® 3 Closed IV Catheter – B. Braun’s latest advancement, which takes the same preferred passive safety-engineered needlestick protection found in Introcan Safety and adds additional automatic protection from blood exposure. For safety and convenience, Introcan Safety 3's unique multi-access blood control septum minimizes blood exposure during needle removal and each time the catheter hub is accessed.
  
• InVision-Plus® Neutral IV Connector – The most recent addition to the B. Braun needleless connector portfolio provides a 10-point standard of features and is offered through an exclusive U.S. distribution agreement with RyMed Technologies, LLC. B. Braun’s portfolio of needleless connectors, including the CARESITE® Luer Access Device, offers a safe way to access IV lines through innovative features designed to help reduce catheter occlusions while protecting healthcare workers from accidental needlestick injuries.
  

About B. Braun
B. Braun Medical Inc., a leader in infusion therapy and pain management, develops, manufactures, and markets innovative medical products and services to the healthcare industry. The company is committed to eliminating preventable treatment errors and enhancing patient, clinician and environmental safety. B. Braun Medical is part of the B. Braun Group of Companies in the U.S., which is headquartered in Bethlehem, Pa., and includes B. Braun Interventional Systems, Aesculap® and CAPS®.

Globally, the B. Braun Group of Companies employs more than 55,000 employees in more than 60 countries. Guided by its Sharing Expertise® philosophy, B. Braun continuously exchanges knowledge with customers, partners and clinicians to address the critical issues of improving care and lowering costs. To learn more about B. Braun Medical, visit www.BBraunUSA.com.

¹ _{http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hazdrug/}