A Review on the Innovative Surgical Suture and Needle Evaluation and Selection Program.

This report describes an innovative suture and needle clinical evaluation program jointly designed by hospital representatives of Consorta, Inc., a healthcare resource management and group purchasing organization, and United States Surgical/Davis & Geck Sutures (USS/D&G), manufacturer of surgical biomaterials. Nineteen Consorta shareholder hospitals enrolled 699 surgeons to participate in Phase I of this nonexperimental observational study of the clinical performance of surgical needles and sutures. Performance characteristics of the sutures and needles produced by USS/D&G, which were evaluated in 3407 surgical procedures, included packaging and ease of opening, needle strength and sharpness, tissue drag, knot security, tensile strength, and clinically acceptable and unacceptable determinations. In these 30-day studies, the surgeons concluded that the needles and sutures were clinically acceptable in 98.1% of the evaluations. 6 e general, cardiothoracic, and orthopedic surgeons, who performed 73.8% of the product evaluations, reported that the suture and needle products were clinically acceptable in 97.2% of the evaluations. More than half (50.1%) of the evaluations involved the POLISORB* braided synthetic sutures, which received a clinically acceptable rating in 98.4% of the evaluation. The next most frequently used sutures were the SOFSILK*, followed by the monofilament nylon suture. SOFSILK* was found to be clinically acceptable in 98.7% of the evaluations, whereas the monofilament nylon was noted to be clinically acceptable in 96.3% of the evaluations. Surgical needles made by USS/D&G had a 97.9% clinical acceptability rating.

An endomechanical product evaluation and selection program by a healthcare resource management group purchasing organization.

The purpose of this report is to describe an endomechanical product evaluation and selection program in open surgical procedures as well as laparoscopic surgery designed by hospital representatives of Consorta, Inc. (Rolling Meadows, Illinois), a leading healthcare resource management and group purchasing organization, and Auto Suture/United States Surgical, (a division of Tyco Healthcare Group LP, Norwalk, Connecticut). In this evaluation program, twenty-three facilities of the six Consorta shareholder partners hospitals enrolled surgeons to participate in this nonexperimental observational study of the clinical performance of endomechanical products. Performance characteristics of the endomechanical products produced by Auto Suture that were evaluated in 1145 surgical procedures included clinically acceptable ratings, clinically not acceptable ratings, as well as superior ratings in 2988 product evaluations. In this endomechanical product evaluation, the surgeons found that the endomechanical products were clinically acceptable in 97.7% of the evaluations. In these endomechanical products that were judged to be clinically acceptable, the surgeons gave a superior rating to 20% of the products. It is important to emphasize that the clinically acceptable performance of laparoscopic products (98.1%) was very similar to that of endomechanical performance during open surgery (96.9%). Similarly, a superior rating of laparoscopic products that were judged to be clinically acceptable (22%) was comparable to that of the superior rating for endomechanical products that were considered to be clinically acceptable during open surgery (16%). The general surgeons who performed the majority (64.3%) of the product evaluations for the endomechanical products found an extremely high clinical acceptable rating in 98.2% of the evaluations. The obstetricians and gynecologists who performed the next highest number of procedures, 427 (14.3%), had a clinically acceptable rating of 97.0%. The lowest clinically acceptable rating (86.3%) for endomechanical products was reported by orthopedic surgeons who performed only 2.7% of the evaluations.

An expanded surgical suture and needle evaluation and selection program by a healthcare resource management group purchasing organization.

The purpose of this report is to describe an expanded suture and needle clinical evaluation program jointly designed by hospital representatives of Consorta, Inc. (Rolling Meadows, Illinois), a leading healthcare resource management and group purchasing organization, and United States Surgical/Davis & Geck Sutures (Division of United States Surgical, Norwalk, Connecticut). In this expanded evaluation program, 42 Consorta shareholder hospitals enrolled 1913 surgeons to participate in Phase II of this non-experimental observational study of the clinical performance of surgical needles and sutures. Performance characteristics of the sutures and needles produced by USS/DG that were evaluated in 25,545 surgical procedures included packaging/ease of opening, needle strength and sharpness, tissue drag, knot security, tensile strength, clinically acceptable determinations, and clinically unacceptable determinations. In these 30-day studies, the surgeons found that the needles and sutures were clinically acceptable in 98.1% of the evaluations. The general, cardiothoracic, and orthopedic surgeons who performed 61.2% of the product evaluations reported that the suture and needle products were clinically acceptable in 98.2% of the evaluations. Nearly half (49.2%) of the evaluations involved the POLYSORB* braided synthetic sutures that received a clinically acceptable rating in 98.2% of the evaluation. The silk suture (SOFSILK*), followed by the monofilament nylon suture (MONOSOF*), were the next most frequently used sutures. The SOFSILK* was found to be clinically acceptable in 99.2% of the evaluations, while MONOSOF* was noted to be clinically acceptable in 98.7% of the evaluations. Surgical needles made by USS/DG Sutures also had a high rating of clinical acceptability (97.9%).

An innovative surgical suture and needle evaluation and selection program.

This report describes an innovative suture and needle clinical evaluation program jointly designed by hospital representatives of Consorta, Inc., a healthcare resource management and group purchasing organization, and United States Surgical/Davis & Geck Sutures (USS/D&G), manufacturer of surgical biomaterials. Nineteen Consorta shareholder hospitals enrolled 699 surgeons to participate in Phase I of this nonexperimental observational study of the clinical performance of surgical needles and sutures. Performance characteristics of the sutures and needles produced by USS/D&G, which were evaluated in 3407 surgical procedures, included packaging and ease of opening, needle strength and sharpness, tissue drag, knot security, tensile strength, and clinically acceptable and unacceptable determinations. In these 30-day studies, the surgeons concluded that the needles and sutures were clinically acceptable in 98.1% of the evaluations. The general, cardiothoracic, and orthopedic surgeons, who performed 73.8% of the product evaluations, reported that the suture and needle products were clinically acceptable in 97.2% of the evaluations. More than half (50.1%) of the evaluations involved the POLYSORB* braided synthetic sutures,which received a clinically acceptable rating in 98.4% of the evaluation. The next most frequently used sutures were the SOFSILK*, followed by the monofilament nylon suture. SOFSILK* was found to be clinically acceptable in 98.7% of the evaluations, whereas the monofilament nylon was noted to be clinically acceptable in 96.3% of the evaluations. Surgical needles made by USS/D&G had a 97.9% clinical acceptability rating.