Reasons To Use EnFit Small-Bore Connector

Posted by neomedinc on June 11th, 2021

Caring for a newborn baby in the NICU presents an enormous challenge, primarily when the concerned infant cannot feed properly. It is essential to provide nourishment to the frail body to ensure growth and development. While the specialized doctor in charge of the NICU is sure to prescribe medication, such neonates are often fed enterally. Several highly specialized equipment, including tubes, syringes, and varied connectors, are utilized to set up the system that ensures the objective without posing additional risks to the baby.

A small-bore connector is usually used to connect different devices to provide nutrition and essential gases and medicines to frail and low-weight neonates. The term is indicative of the fact that the bore of the connector is extremely small that does not exceed 8 mm. Unfortunately, there have been numerous incidents of fatal misconnection reported in the past with the newborn baby succumbing due to a simple folly made due to misconnecting two completely diverse tubes or appliances together.

A new standardized safety measure was developed to design all connectors and devices being made incompatible when trying to unite two completely different systems. The ENFit brand name has ensured safety for medical caregivers and professionals that minimize risk and enable the facilities and individuals to avoid legal issues in the long run. ENFit is fully compliant with the standards specified ISO 80369, with the FDA advising the users to make the transition as swiftly as possible.

The incidents of misconnection were addressed by the “International Organization of Standardization (ISO)” back in 2008, intending to revamp the existing design of small-bore connectors to make it entirely safe for patients in the NICU and other units of a medical facility. As a result, ISO 80369-1 was introduced to address this aspect and resolve all misconnection issues caused by the indiscriminate use of connectors with small bores.

Leading companies across the nation are manufacturing the connectors that have been approved for use. Attempts have been made to quickly transition to the current standards at the earliest with the risks to patients due to misconnections being addressed by other devices that adhere to the safety standards.

The parameters that have made ENFit the best brand to opt for in keeping with the regulatory standards include:-

· It is not compatible with any other connector in a particular series, thus making misconnection impossible

· The connector is fabricated out of a rigid / semi-rigid material to enhance its durability

· Such connectors can easily pass through any testing for misconnection

· It cannot be fitted forcibly into the port of a Luer device or one that holds needleless connectors

Neonates who need to be tube-fed also have the professionals using a quality feeding tube extension set that can successfully deliver nutrition in the form of fluids and administer medication.