As a healthcare professional, patient safety is always our top priority. The NRFit safety device is a game-changer with its innovative design. It is engineered as a hard stop which significantly reduces the risk of misconnections, providing peace of mind for both clinicians and patients.
-Katherine Houle, MSN, RN, CPAN
In Medication Safety work, there is rarely an opportunity to “hard-stop” staff from making a medication error. With recent events and tragedies with mistaken administrations into the neuraxial spaces, the time is now to implement NRFit Connectors! Our pediatric hospital completed our implementation in 2024 for our epidural infusions and are grateful to have this safety measure in place. Our hope is to see these beneficial connectors implemented for all patients, in all settings where epidural or intrathecal catheters are in place.
-Risa Eckardt, PharmD
Despite the utmost care, vigilance, and safety measures, our incident reporting system repeatedly recorded reports of mix-ups between intravascular access and regional anesthesia catheters during more than 6,000 regional anesthesia procedures annually. These mix-ups could have led to catastrophic complications for patients. Therefore, it was urgently necessary to implement the unmistakable PAJUNK NRFit connections at our institution. The transition was exceptionally well-received and proceeded smoothly and without problems. The nursing staff, in particular, supported the change with great enthusiasm. Now, I am pleased to be able to offer our patients the best possible safety during regional anesthesia!
–Dr. med. Oliver Vicent, MD, Senior Consultant, Specialist for Regional Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Dresden, Germany
I cannot do, and we should not do, without NRFit! We were one of the first hospitals in the Western parts of Germany to adopt NRFit. IMHO, it is a most significant development enhancing patient safety in regional anaesthesia, comparable only to the dissemination of ultrasound guidance. Confusion of intravenous and perineural medications has disastrous consequences, i.e., death or permanent paralysis. Having experienced several near misses in different hospitals, I am deeply convinced that I owe my patients the safety of NRFit. The costs of any complication, prolonged hospital stay, or even one lawsuit, far outweigh the slightly higher costs of using NRFit for many years. With a well-thought-out concept, involving all stakeholders, change management was not a big challenge. A reliable and competent industry partner helped us to implement NRFit within 2 weeks in a hospital doing more than 1500 nerve, fascia, and neuroaxial blocks per year. No serious incidents were encountered. As the responsible Director, I can sleep more peacefully, knowing that perineural catheters on the wards are running on NRFit.
–Dr.med. Markus Huppertz-Thyssen, MD, MHBA, DESAIC, Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care, Emergency and Pain Medicine, JG Ruhr Kliniken – St. Augustinus Krankenhaus Düren, Düren, Germany
At University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust which is a large 1500 bed University Hospital and 35 operating theatres, the safety of our patients is paramount. Our decision to transition to NRFit® connectors across all regional anaesthesia procedures was directly driven by serious patient safety incidents related to near wrong-route medication errors involving regional anaesthesia. These incidents highlighted an urgent need to eliminate the risk of misconnections between regional anaesthesia and other delivery systems. Our journey toward safer neuraxial and regional anaesthesia practices began in 2018, with the successful implementation of NRFit connectors for spinal anaesthesia and was followed by single-shot peripheral nerve blocks in 2019. This was followed by the adoption of NRFit for epidural procedures in 2020, and finally, the conversion of our regional block catheter systems—completing the transition in 2021. The phased approach allowed us to manage the clinical, logistical, and training challenges in a controlled manner, ensuring each stage was implemented safely and effectively. Throughout this process, Pajunk provided invaluable support as our key industry partner. Their comprehensive product range, technical guidance, and training resources were essential in helping us understand the NRFit system and integrate it confidently into clinical practice. We did not encounter any product shortages during the conversion and subsequently thereafter. The NRFit system is now fully embedded in our regional anaesthesia practice, with clear, unique connectors that greatly reduce the risk of wrong-route administration. Our clinicians report high confidence in the system, and we are proud to have made this important step forward in improving patient safety. More than five years since the first transition we couldn’t envisage regional anaesthesia without NRFit. Since the conversion we have not had any subsequent ‘wrong route’ patient safety incidents reported! We hope our experience can help inform and encourage other hospitals on their own journeys toward safer neuraxial and regional anaesthesia practices.
–Carl Hillermann MBChB, DA(SA), FRCA, Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Acute Pain Physician at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. Special Interest Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, Co-investigator in NIHR funded ERASER trial. Primary Examiner at the Royal College of Anaesthetists, Examiner for EDAIC exams
