“Can Do!” Is DEFINITELY in LivaNova’s Dictionary!

“I am impressed.  I feel that in some ways, people and organizations define themselves and improve consumer confidence- more by the manner in which they  handle adversity as opposed to how they harness success.”

Editor’s Note:

When I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman, in charge of an ER somewhere in the Republic of the Philippines, working on the United States Naval Base in Subic Bay- I always noticed these bad-ass guys called SeaBees– that were basically an extreme Naval Construction team, building anything that we needed- regardless of the challenge the project represented- or the enemy efforts to repel their construction efforts.  They were known for being relentless and always accomplishing their mission.  On their heavy equipment, and tee-shirts that they always wore with their  combat fatigues- they had printed on them a “Can Do” logo.

It made a lasting impact on me.  It was a mission statement that left no recourse for NOT accomplishing the task at hand.  Any doubt of failure to accomplish the mission was removed- by those simple 2 words: “Can Do“.  I was always impressed by the simplicity of that concept- as well as the confidence it inspired…

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On April 4th, barely a month ago- I published an article “Sloppy is Not in the Perfusion Dictionary” and it described my frustration with a problem we were seeing with a custom table pack that was provided to us by LivaNova, a “Cardiac Surgery Solutions” company that states: “Through our commitment to continuous training and education, we’re responsive to the needs of patients, physicians, hospitals, and healthcare stakeholders…”

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So here is where that “Can Do” philosophy that I admired and respected so much as a military man- here is where that kicked in and goes a long way to not only spurring this article to be written, but prompting me to express my admiration for their proactive approach in terms of addressing this issue.  (Please note:  this is NOT a retraction of the previous article- as the issues were demonstrably real- rather a follow-up and update, as well as a thank you-  for an outstanding effort in dealing quickly and concisely with the issue presented forward.)

Here is the timeline of the events as they occurred:

• April 1:  Problem of potential sterility and pack design identified and discussed with colleagues.
• April 4:  Post on CircuitSurfers.com to identify and share the issue with our perfusion colleagues.
• April 8:  Email contact to Perfusion.com (parent company of this blog)
• April 9:  Several phone calls from LivaNova Representatives form Houston, to discuss the problem, additional photos were sent, as well as a very open and candid discussion on what possible solutions were reasonably available.
• April 18:  Meeting with LivaNova Repersentative Mr. Rob Sloan, a well respected Perfusionist with many local professional ties to the area, who now works as a LivaNova Representative/Clinical Specialist.
• April 18:  New pack design brought in by Rob Sloan, CCP– that completely eliminates the problem, and improves the table pack in terms of simplicity for delivery of contents to the sterile surgical field.

That represents 2 weeks.  Two weeks from identifying an issue, and having a concrete solution in our hands.  IMO- That’s impressive!

I told Rob “I would make it right” because obviously- anytime a problem or something is called out to the consumer community- it can be a potentially embarrassing or intimidating proposition to whichever manufacturer is placed in the limelight and is putting out the particular product under scrutiny.  It doesn’t matter how it is predicated- it gets your attention, and there are a lot of ways organizations can react to that.  I believe that LivaNova not only dealt with this in a super professional manner, but turned a “lemon into Lemonade” to use a metaphor we can all relate to.

I am impressed.  I feel that in some ways, people and organizations define themselves and improve consumer confidence- more by the manner in which they  handle adversity as opposed to how they harness success.  In this case- “Can Do” was implemented and translated unbelievably quickly- to “Done Did It!”

Kudos Team ‘Nova!  🙂  (LOL- had to refrain from going there- “Villa- Nova!”  National champs 🙂 )

You do very well in living up to your stated standards:  “Through our commitment to continuous training and education, we’re responsive to the needs of patients, physicians, hospitals, and healthcare stakeholders…”

The Problem:

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Arrows point to Manufacturers guides that should be flush with the clam shell table pack-  The seal obviously doesn’t work- as the weight of the lines themselves cause them to drop out.  (In some cases a foot of tubing was out of the pack- which required additional sections of 1/4″ lines passed up to the field to make sure we had enough length)

The Fix:

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Design went from a Clam Shell press fit- to a peel-away pack.  Arrows point to 4 well sealed corners.

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Note the tight fit of the tubing into the molded tubing guides/fenestrations.

These seals are air and water tight.  The molding will be adhered to the tubing to prevent the possibility of tubing slipping out of the pack inadvertently.

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The peel-away pack certainly meets today’s rigorous sterile packaging requirements.  Very impressed with this 🙂

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Arrows give an idea of how tight the foam conforms around the tubing.  It is sealed to the tubing to ensure a secure bond that insures the sterile integrity of this pack.  Well done!