Modern Plastics Worldwide - July/August 2009 - dae uptlax

DESIGN|FOCUS
Designing for disposables
Meeting the medical disposables
challenge
By Clare Goldsberry
Home care is becoming more predominant
as hospital stays become
shorter—even for some of the most
serious surgeries—as insurers have
reduced allowances for stays and payments
to hospitals. With healthcare
costs again in the spotlight, cost cutting
is pervasive, to include in the disposable
medical products arena.
Hitting goals for low production costs
often requires a new way of looking at these
single-use devices (SUDs) and designing
for manufacturability and reduced material
usage on the processing side, while considering
ease-of-use and minimizing the potential
for error on the patient side. Many of
the same considerations that are critical in
designing multiple-use medical devices are
also major considerations for SUDs.
Tom O’Brien, product marketing manager
for Lexan and Cycoloy and healthcare
industry manager for the Performance
Products unit at supplier Sabic Innovative
Plastics (Pittsfield, MA), says that one of
the trends in healthcare is increasing the
throughput of patients in the system.
“The longer you’re in an operating
room, the longer you’re being
treated, the more it costs,
and insurance companies
are paying less,”
says O’Brien. “In the
area of disposables,
we’re seeing certain
surgical
instruments that
have historically
been
fabricated
of metal
going to
There are many things to take into consideration when designing medical
disposable devices—particularly if they are for use outside the hospital or care
provider’s office—such as ease of use, safety, and cost.
plastic so they can
be disposable. It
eliminates the sterilization
process, and
allows the surgeon
to move right on
to the next surgery
with no delays.”
In one case,
O’Brien explains,
Sabic worked with
an OEM on a metal
skin stapler. “This
skin stapler had
between 20 and 25 components, so after
each surgery the entire device had to be
completely disassembled, sterilized, and put
it back together,” he says. “There was a
tendency to lose parts, and there was the
time it takes in the sterilizer. Today, they use
a disposable skin stapler.”
Dave Devito, product marketing manager
for Sabic’s LNP compounds product
line and healthcare
industry manager
for specialty products,
says that the
term “disposable”
spans a wide range of
products. “Disposable
might be an $800 skin stapler
or a $20 syringe. I
do know
the medical
device
companies are
Sabic Innovative Plastics’ Ultem
material was chosen when the OEM
switched from metal to plastics for
this skin stapler.
Transparency lends devices an aura of sterility; these
plastics generally allow for multiple sterilization methods.
investing in new products all the time,
but always watching their costs,” Devito
says. “Major device manufacturers are definitely
expanding more into disposables,
with combined functionality designed into
the product. They are coming out with new
products—doing some innovation. Minimally
invasive surgical devices are expanding
for more in-and-out procedures.”
Kevin Dunay, market segment leader,
medical polycarbonates NAFTA for Bayer
MaterialScience LLC (Pittsburgh, PA),
sees device companies asking for materials
allowing for longer flow lengths in multicavity
molds. Reducing costs to manufacture
also means designing for thinner wall
sections as well. “We see a growing trend in
the health care market for thin-wall applications,”
Dunay says.
To address the demand for these, his
company in June launched its Makrolon
Rx2435 polycarbonate. Like its predecessor,
Makrolon Rx2530, Makrolon Rx2435
resin exhibits a good balance of mechanical
strength and toughness, but the new
grade also adds easier flow, specifically to
meet the needs of thin-wall applications.
30 JULY/AUGUST 2009 • MODERN PLASTICS WORLDWIDE mpw.plasticstoday.com