V E TE R AN S AFFAI R S & M I LITARY M E D I CI N E O UTLO O K
ZipThaw202 – compact footprint.
Article sponsored by FreMon Scientific
INCREASE PLASMA THROUGHPUT AND ® WORKFLOW EFFICIENCY WITH ZIPTHAW
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One way to maintain high plasma throughput with water baths is to use multiple devices. That’s expensive and requires its own additional maintenance overhead: More hot water baths means more staffers to maintain them. And since baths can’t easily be moved, working around fixed equipment creates more complexity of work flow and requires more hands on deck. This is particularly challenging when there’s a labor shortage for blood bank technicians. Now there’s an easier, faster, less staff-intensive way to increase plasma throughput. ZipThaw is a new, made-inthe-USA, FDA-cleared plasma thawing medical device that uses dry technology, advanced safety features, and other thoughtful innovations that make it ideal for military applications. Many current hot water baths have four chambers. Excluding warm up and
recovery times, it takes about 40 minutes to thaw four standard-size plasma bags to an unknown temperature. ZipThaw has two independent chambers, and in that same 40 minutes, it can thaw six bags to 31°C for transfusion, or up to eight bags to 15°C for refrigeration.
HOW FEWER CHAMBERS CAN EQUAL MORE THAWED PLASMA ZipThaw is an advanced, portable device that requires almost zero maintenance and no downtime. Because it uses fully dry thawing technology, it is lightweight, meaning you can thaw anywhere that works best for your clinic: at point-ofcare on a wheeled cart, or in temporary locations like hallways or anywhere else. All ZipThaw needs is an outlet. Since water baths require cleaning downtime after heavy use, on a daily
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anaging efficient and timely plasma thawing, especially for massive transfusion protocols, is a significant challenge for military blood banks and emergency rooms. Current plasma thawing methods rely on hot water baths, which are slow, messy, and outdated. These baths require large amounts of time at every stage of the thawing process: time to heat up, time to thaw the plasma, and further time to recover. They also tend to result in splashed water at the point of use, causing wasted time and effort to clean up after the plasma is thawed. Additionally, after a day of heavy use for a massive transfusion event, hot water baths will need to be taken offline and deep cleaned near a sink. With only a single working water bath, another massive transfusion event would result in a serious crisis in plasma availability.
