Nestle Health Science's SpikeRight PLUS port for closed enteral feeding containers is designed to reduce the risk of dangerous tubing misconnections.
It is the first proximal end enteral connection system designed to be incompatible with IV equipment.
Tubing misconnections can lead to injury or even death and thus pose a real risk to patient safety.
The Joint Commission has recommended increased awareness of this issue and in 2006 released a Sentinel Event Alert to highlight the problem.
In addition, the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety has stated that preventing misconnections will require a multi-faceted effort involving clinicians, patient care facilities, purchasing groups, manufacturers and others, and reiterated the Joint Commission's call for product redesign to improve safety.
Nestle has been at the forefront of improving patient safety since 1994 when it introduced the SpikeRight design in Europe.
The SpikeRight port used a threaded design to connect with enteral specific screw-top spike sets to reduce the risk of misconnection with intravenous equipment.
In 2008 the SpikeRight design was introduced into the US in Nestle's closed system products in its ULTRAPAK bags and in 2009 in its closed system bottles.
In 2011 Nestle Health Science introduced its next generation safety technology, the SpikeRight PLUS system, to further reduce the risk of dangerous tubing misconnections.
It is the first available proximal end connector which is designed to be incompatible with I.V. ports and spikes as well as other medical equipment.
The SpikeRight PLUS system consists of COMPAT enteral pump sets with the SpikeRight PLUS connector (introduced in 2011) and ULTRAPAK bags with the SpikeRight PLUS port
Please note that actual product availability may vary based on production schedules and inventory levels.