Packaging’s Role in Protecting the Patient

Escrito por Jill Cinalli | 28 de ene de 2025 16:06:58

When it comes to the medical packaging industry, there are two things we all have in common. 1) We’ve all been a patient, and 2) we all know someone who has been a patient. I believe this is where so much passion in this industry comes from. Our work, while not as obvious as the surgent or doctor’s, directly impacts the ones we love.

The Surgical Process:

Room and sterile field are prepped. General anesthesia & regional nerve anesthesia are administered. Vital sign monitoring is readied for continuous monitoring.

*Whether the surgical plan calls for intubation or not, an intubation kit will be opened 90% of the time so the team is ready in case of emergencies.

Medical Equipment	Packaging
Intubation Kit
Tracheal tube	Tyvek®/film pouch (sterilized with irradiation)
Syringe	Tyvek®/film pouch (sterilized with EO)
Single-use laryngoscope handle-blade combination	Plastic bag
Intubating stylet	Tyvek®/film pouch (sterilized with EO)
Medicine	Glass vials
General Anesthesia
Bair hugger (warming blanket) – upper or lower depending on need	Plastic bag
Oxygen mask	Plastic shrink wrap
Supraglottic airway (used when full breathing tube is not necessary)
Supraglottic airway	Tyvek® lid/tray (sterilized with EO)
Laryngeal mask airway	Tyvek® lid/film (sterilized with EO)
Intravenous (IV)
IV start kit Contents: Generic dressing 2 Gauze 1 Tape Strip 1 Alcohol pad 1 Extension set 1 Barrier film 1mL 1 Preoperative skin prep 3mL 1 Tourniquet	Tyvek® lid/tray (sterilized with EO)
Drawing up medications
7 Total syringes used in varying sizes
5mL syringe	Tyvek®/film pouch (sterilized with irradiation)
10mL syringe	Tyvek®/film pouch (sterilized with irradiation)
30mL syringe	Tyvek®/film pouch (sterilized with irradiation)
Syringe needles	Tyvek®/film pouch + red needle caps (sterilized with irradiation)
1 IV bag	Plastic bag
3 medical vials	Glass vials
Additional items
Anesthesia circuit	Plastic bag
Facemask	Plastic bag
Artificial Manual Breathing Unit (AMBU) bag	Plastic bag
Tubo de succión	Plastic bag
Suction canister	Plastic bag
Yankeur suction device	Tyvek®/film pouch (sterilized with EO)
Monitors
Repositionable monitoring electrodes	Foil/foil tear pouch
Pulse oximeters	Plastic bag
Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Cuff	Plastic bag
Co2 monitor line	Plastic bag
Clavicle plate and screw kit	Zone coated Tyvek® lid/tray (sterilized with irradiation)

The affected area is cleaned and the first incision is made. The surgeon will bring the pieces of clavicle back into alignment (reduction and will secure the pieces of clavicle to each other (fixation). To do this, he or she may use screws, metal plates, wires, and pins, all of which is typically packaged in a kit with a Zone coated Tyvek® lid/tray configuration.

Why is the packaging designed this way? Zone coated lids are important in this packaging as any device being placed into the human body should not come in contact with adhesive coating applied to lidding. Depending on the company providing the device you can sometimes see this appear in a double tray configuration. A tray/lid combination is typically preferred for medical devices that will be implanted due to their high-value and need to remain secure and protected.

Layers of skin and muscle are surgically closed around the clavicle.

As you can see from this high-level look at a surgical procedure, and just digging into a small portion of the packaging needed, there is a lot! If devices are not handled and protected appropriately, there is an opportunity for contamination which puts the patient’s safety at risk—packaging is a vital component to proper handling and aseptic presentation. The takeaway: in one procedure there are multiple points that our work makes a difference and impacts the outcome for the patient.

Fuente:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/clavicle-fracture-open-reduction-and-internal-fixation

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