Recorded Wednesday, September 16 at 11AM EDT – Presented by Eastman
Environmental stress cracking (ESC) resistance properties for medical devices is more demanding than ever. The increased focus on hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) has resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of aggressive cleaners, medical disinfectants, and disinfectant wipes.
These challenges create a dramatically increased need for chemical resistant polymers for clear medical devices and opaque medical device housing.
Chemical resistance is usually associated with chemical compatibility—but it is much more than that in medical applications. When you evaluate chemical resistance for daily use in medical devices, you should consider the combination of:
- Residual stress
- Toughness
- Chemical compatibility under stress
Copolyesters from Eastman Chemical Company have long set the standard for chemical resistance because of their outstanding compatibility with lipids, IPA, disinfectant agents, and bonding solvents. Eastman Tritan™ copolyester continues this tradition, with a higher glass transition temperature and easier processing.
In this webinar we will discuss the challenges that the medical industry is facing due to aggressive chemicals and how Eastman can help address this issue.
Download the slides (for Prospector Members only) | Webinar Transcript
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Cynthia: Thank you very much. I’m really pleased to have all of you today with us. What we’re gonna be talking about is chemical resistance in the world of medical devices. The life of medical devices is being shortened, and the performance is being compromised by a variety of external forces in today’s healthcare environment. We’ll look at the pressure that these forces exert on medical devices focusing on health care-associated infections, which we will call HAIs, and the resulting use of aggressive disinfectants in hospitals and other healthcare settings. We’ll take a look at the need for chemical resistance in both clear and opaque devices and, finally, the results of testing to evaluate the impact of common medical disinfectants on leading engineering polymers. And, finally, at the end of this presentation, we will have an active question and answer session.
Today’s medical devices must measure up to many standards with patient safety always being the ultimate goal. Medical devices do more for caregivers and patients with each innovation in medical and polymer science. They do more. They look better. They are lighter. They are easier to use. Devices are becoming more portable and come in contact with more people. And today’s devices often are operated by patients as well as trained professionals. In addition to constant handling, devices must withstand frequent usage of aggressive disinfectants, disinfectant wipes, and sterilization as part of the increased emphasis on preventing HAIs.
So far, we’ve mentioned the forces that put pressure on the outside of devices. Many devices also must withstand attack from within, from powerful cancer and oncology drugs and their carrier solvents. And, of course, devices must stand up to this changing use environment cost-effectively for the greatest lifetime value of each device.
Before we talk more about HAIs, we want to define our terms. You’ll see HAI used to refer to hospital-acquired infections, especially when talking about Medicare reimbursements implemented through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS, as we’ll see in our next slide. This interpretation speaks specifically about patient infections that are not present or incubating at the time of admission to the hospital.
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Very good