Better Than Expected – Zero Complaints
The hospital completed the switch to Medela’s devices. Based on their negative experience with the previous NPWT pumps from a different provider, management fully expected to hear about problems. Instead, they didn’t receive any concerns with the new pumps, whether related to equipment failure or operator error, as the nurses became accustomed to them.
“With the Medela pumps, the complaints stopped completely. I knew I would be hearing about it if there were problems. There just weren’t any.” - Market CEO
The Market CEO explained that with the previous NPWT devices, complaints from the nursing staff and patients had been a daily occurrence. Among them were that the devices were finicky, often requiring multiple attempts to get the seal right, which was frustrating for nurses and potentially painful for the patient. Even once in place, the device frequently shut down on its own, setting off an alarm and requiring a nurse to return to the patient’s bed and troubleshoot the issue.
The transition was seamless. “I was no longer getting multiple phone calls at night from nurses dealing with equipment problems. And when I’d come into work the next morning, I never found a patient with a wound vac that had turned off on its own overnight. We’re working with complex wounds. And so when you’re dealing with equipment that maybe isn’t working right, or isn’t user-friendly, it makes it more difficult to give the patient the care you want to provide. The difference with the Medela devices was noticeable immediately.”
High Marks for Patient Satisfaction
What elated management about the Medela devices wasn’t only that their staff liked them; it was clear that patients did too. In comparison to other negative pressure devices, the Medela system is small, lightweight and operates quietly. Because it functions reliably, it rarely sounds alarms, unlike their previous devices, which set off frequent alarms, annoying patients and waking them up at night.
Easy to Use for Nurses and Patients Alike
A nurse practitioner and certified wound care nurse who works at the hospital, as well as other healthcare facilities and nursing homes in the area, said, “I’ve used just about every wound vac out there. When I’m at a facility that has Medela devices, I’m glad. I know it will do the job. We have excellent results with the Medela pump.”
"We get less resistance to the therapy; patients are more compliant. We’re having better outcomes, which translates to better patient satisfaction and better employee satisfaction as well.” - Market CEO
One of the features he likes best is Medela’s visual icon that shows it’s working. “Other pumps don’t have displays, so nurses need to trust whether they can hear the pump working or see that the dressing has a firm seal.” He added that it’s even very easy to use a single Medela pump to treat multiple wounds on a patient at the same time.
“Medela is very user-friendly. The nurses are comfortable with it. They’re able to tell if there’s a leak. It’s easy to train staff how to troubleshoot the pump. If there isn’t a wound care nurse available, such as on the weekend, they’re able to monitor the pumps and correct any problems on their own.”
He explained that the Medela device is so easy to use, that patients quickly learn how to use it on their own. Often, they’re able to be discharged from the hospital sooner because they are comfortable working with the pump and can take it with them.
“Medela is also very responsive,” he added. “If we tell them we need an NPWT pump to send home with a patient, we get it along with all the supplies the same day. That’s not always the case with other wound care devices. Sometimes patients have to spend extra days in the hospital waiting for a pump to take home.”