The Problem

Michael Pickett came up with the idea for RediStik after noticing that hospital staff were unsatisfied with the standard IV trainers that were on the market. Healthcare professionals complained that many of the trainers weren’t realistic.

• They were far too hard, making it difficult to stick needles in properly.
• They were made of materials that couldn’t be cleaned with chemicals or dressed, as it would leave a chemical residue behind or damage the surface.
• They weren’t wearable, so they couldn’t easily be placed in a natural position as a normal patient would.
• They took too long to set up, so training sessions would usually last all day and practitioners couldn’t practice on them very often outside of these scheduled sessions.

The lack of realism in these IV, CVC and Port trainers was a serious problem because practitioners needed a high degree of realism to learn how to safely perform procedures that come with some level of risk. For example, not learning how to clean or dress the area properly before inserting a line can lead to a fatal bloodstream infection and sepsis. Likewise, ports in the chest and veins in the arm can be difficult to locate and insert a line into properly, so medical professionals need accurate training models to practice the procedure. The position of the patient’s torso or arm is also crucial in some cases, particularly for central line ports and ECMO cannulation.

Another problem was cost. Staff wanted task trainers that they could use multiple times or even practice on right before seeing patients to gain confidence and sharpen their skills. Trainers that were too fragile or costly weren’t an option.

The Solution

To solve these problems, Pickett partnered with Sawbones to design the best quality, most realistic trainers on the market at a reasonable price. The goal was to make these trainers portable, easy to set up, engaging to work with, and supportive of “just in time” training”—he wanted practitioners to be able to set up and practice on the devices in just five minutes.

To meet these goals, Pickett and Sawbones took the following steps: 

1. Getting the materials right: The trainers needed to look and feel like real tissue. The material couldn’t be too stiff for needles to be inserted. There also needed to be zero drag when the needle was pulled out. It took 12 iterations to identify the perfect materials for the tissue. The final iteration featured realistic self-sealing textured skin on the exterior and subcutaneous tissue beneath so practitioners could feel or see where the veins and ports were located. The veins even “rolled” like real veins do under skin.  We discovered that vein illumination technology also works with our tissue and vessels.
2. Ensuring the material could be treated and dressed: Pickett and Sawbones tested that chlorhexidine (CHG) and alcohol could be safely applied to the material without leaving behind a residue. They found that the materials they chose could have a dressing left on without leaving behind any residue.
3. Making the trainers wearable: Pickett and Sawbones used a lightweight thermoplastic mold for the port and the PIV that could be put on a mannequin or on someone’s forearm comfortably. They also designed a needle proof backing to prevent accidental needle stick injuries.
4. Getting feedback and adding realistic details: Early testers for the peripheral intravenous line (PIV) trainers found the small vein to be difficult to find. To solve this problem, Pickett added another large vein in the design. This allowed practitioners to build confidence and skill on the larger vein that was easiest to find before practicing on the smaller vein. Pickett also designed a line of trainers for a range of skin tones, so practitioners would know how to identify veins on every patient.
5. Creating a portable kit: John James from Pacific Research Labs recommended that all of the training materials should be included in a single, portable bag. For example, one challenge early testers identified is that after inserting the needle, the synthetic blood tended to leak back out because the blood bag wasn’t positioned properly. To solve this, they included a tabletop phone mount in the bag that practitioners could attach the blood bag on to keep it elevated.

The complete port trainer kits include: 

The PIV trainer kits include: 

The design, prototyping, and manufacturing process differed slightly for each of the trainers in the RediStik line. Generally, though, Pickett would come up with an idea and plan for a trainer, develop early prototypes and obtain end user feedback, Sawbones would engineer it, then Texas Children’s Hospital ^® would test it, make modifications, and eventually use them for routine training. They also created videos showcasing how each trainer worked.

The Results

After countless iterations, modifications, and in-depth discussions with Texas Children’s Hospital ^®, a line of wearable task trainers were created:

1. The PIV trainer kit that can withstand 1,000 or more punctures.
2. The port trainer kit that can withstand 1,200 or more punctures.
3. The CVC trainer kit.  Tissue can withstand repeated skin preparation and dressing applications.  Sterile blood collection and flushing via double lumen CVC.
4. The ECMO cannulation trainer kit that is currently undergoing a pilot program at Texas Children’s Hospital ^®.

So far, results from the PIV and port trainers have been incredibly positive. After surveying 14 different clinical areas of the hospital, 100% of those surveyed said they would recommend the trainers to colleagues.

This medical education technology has also had a meaningful impact on patients’ lives around the world. For example, RediStik trainers were sent to clinics in Africa to train medical professionals on administering chemotherapy via IV. Due to lack of training, these IVs would often leak, causing wounds called extravasation. After just one year of training with the RediStik PIV kits, extravasation incidents decreased from 45% to just 5%. Prior to using the RediStik PIV Trainer, only 19% of PIVs were obtained with three or fewer attempts, post Task Trainer assessments reveal 99% of PIVs obtained with three or fewer attempts.  It was a game-changer for these clinics.