Burn Units

The Problem: Burn Injuries, Burn Units and Infections

Burn injuries are one of the most challenging healthcare issues to both patients and caregivers.

In the United States and Canada, over 450,000 individuals are seen in emergency departments, clinics or physicians’ offices for the treatment of burn injuries [1].

There are 40,000 hospitalizations related to burn injuries, including 30,000 at hospital burn centers [2]. Within burn centers, infections top the list of the most common complications, making the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases a central focus of burn care teams.

How We Can Help: Maintaining Cleanliness and Preventing Cross-Contamination

We know burn centers do everything possible to care for their patients and provide a clean care environment. AIONX® can help burn care teams provide even cleaner, safer care.

AIONX® ActivSurface™ Covers are disposable, antimicrobial covers that use synergistic ratios of silver and copper activated by a small embedded battery. These products continuously clean high-touch surfaces in a burn unit, helping to maintain a cleaner patient environment and prevent cross contamination.*

AIONX® has partnered with a company to provide Contamination Source Identification (CSI)™ capabilities. CSI is an innovative, unparalleled metagenomics technology with the potential to enhance burn care in a variety of ways. The technology allows for comprehensive microbial community profiling of samples within hours. AIONX® is looking for burn care partners to assist with the development of these metagenomics capabilities to inform the smarter use of contamination-prevention technologies (like the AIONX® ActivSurface™ Covers) by empirically showing pathogenic transmission pathways. Other uses of the technology could involve the rapid identification of pathogens causing burn wound infections and the development of predictive capabilities to guide more directed use of antibiotics for effective early intervention.

How We Showed Support: AIONX® Satellite Symposium at the American Burn Association's 50th Annual Meeting

The American Burn Association (ABA) seeks to bring awareness about how burn injuries are caused and how making simple environmental and behavioral changes can save lives. AIONX®supports the ABA’s mission and believes our innovative products and services, that utilize cutting-edge technology, can help.

AIONX® attended the American Burn Association’s 50th Annual Meeting in Chicago on April 10-13, and hosted a Satellite Symposium to discuss how the AIONX® ActivSurface™ Covers and AIONX® CSI capabilities can help burn care teams provide cleaner, better care.

Our Satellite Symposium Presenters:

  1. Gary J. Shope, CEO, Aionx Antimicrobial Technologies
  2. Dr. James Hart, M.D., former Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs – Global Surgery Group, Johnson and Johnson
  3. Dr. Regina Lamendella, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Juniata College

Sources:

  1. Prevention. Retrieved from http://ameriburn.org/prevention/
  2. Burn Incidence Fact Sheet. Retrieved from http://ameriburn.org/who-we-are/media/burn-incidence-fact-sheet/
  3. Coban, Yusuf Kenan. “Infection Control in Severely Burned Patients.” World Journal of Critical Care Medicine 1.4 (2012): 94–101. PMC. Web. 2 Mar. 2018.

* The AIONX® ActivSurface™ Covers use the AIONX® ActivSurface™ technology, which is registered with the EPA (EPA Reg. No. 91681-1) as an antimicrobial agent that effectively inhibits the growth of bacteria, fungi, algae, mold, and mildew that cause unpleasant odors, discoloration, staining, deterioration or corrosion on surfaces to which it is applied. The EPA has not reviewed or approved, nor does AIONX® make, any claims that its ActivSurface™ technology has efficacy against any particular pathogenic microbes. The use of AIONX® ActivSurface™ technology at a use site is a supplement to and not a substitute for standard infection control practices; users must continue to follow all current infection control practices, including those practices related to cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces.