Rimbey EMTs invent IV line connector that disconnects safely By CARL HAHN Life staff It's a bit of a cliche: the incredible invention that was born on a paper napkin in a restaurant. The napkin is long gone, but the idea of a safety device for medical lines didn't go away. And the Rimbey EMTs who invented it are hoping someday to retire on it. The idea, in a nutshell, is a connector device that allows an intravenous line to disconnect whenever significant tension is put on the line. The two ends self-seal as soon as they come apart, so nothing leaks out. They can be reconnected simply by swabbing both ends with alcohol (for sterilization) and pushing them back together. Bridget Wright and David Coambs got a lot of encouragement from an American patent examiner after he went searching for a patent on any device like theirs. "There was absolutely nothing," Wright says. "His comments were, 'I can't believe somebody didn't invent this 40 year ago.'" The final "proof of concept" prototype was only completed last week, but the design has been in the works for more than three years. Wright and Coambs used to be co -workers, and a casual conversation during a dinner break led to the creation of the simple little connector. Coambs had previously invented a carpentry tool - with very limited applications- and told Wright if she ever had any creative ideas he could recommend a good patent lawyer. "I said, 'I kind of had this one idea,'" Wright recalls. "it would have sat there if he hadn't asked me that question." The more they talked, the more they recognized how good the idea was. With strings and pop-top drink bottles they continued to model and draw, convincing themselves this was a winner. "The guts of it are remarkably similar to what we first came up with,"says Coambs. Wright had thought of it after and infant died of strangulation in a Toronto hospital. An IV line had wrapped around the child's neck and wouldn't give. Health Canada issued and an alert in 2002 about the strangulation concern but its only solution was to suggest infants on IV should be given 24-hour attention by staff. While the safety factor seems reason enough to install the new device in all IV lines, Wright and Coambs quickly realized it had many other benefits. As they talked to more medical staff in more places, the design was adjusted countless times to make it multi-purpose. IV lines normally use "medication ports" - a small Y connector that provides a place for medication to be injected with a syringe, Coambs explains. After the medication is injected, the port has to be flushed with a second syringe full of saline solution to make sure all the medicine gets in to the IV tube. Their safety connector can double as a mediation port. The medication would simply be squirted in to the patient's end of the connection, then the connector put back together. "When you plug it back together again it flushed itself, so you don't need to wast eht second syringe." It would also prevent IV needles getting ripped out. That can happen if an IV pole falls over, of if little kids fight with the IV. With the safety device in use,it would come apart instead. The needle would stay in place, and none of the medication being injected would be lost. As well since the ends sea, there would be a back pressure created in the line. If the medication was being pumped, the pump's alarm would go off, alerting medical staff that the IV had stopped. There are lots of IV line connectors on the market, Coambs says, but nothing like theirs. The popular Hepburn connector is a screw-type, so it doesn't come apart easily. And it doesn't seal, so if it is taken apart the lines are open and will leak all over. Their safety connector would cost about 85 cents, but would replace about $8 worth of other connectors and devices in an IV line, saving money as well as being sager, they say. Wright says medical staff have also suggested rigging it for urine catheters. Patients could disconnect from the bag temporarily without leaks and never have to experience the excruciating pain of having the catheter accidentally ripped out. "They want them on dialysis lines as well," she adds. Wright and Coambs formed their own company, B&D research and Development, and have spent about $50,000 of their own money on lawyers, patent searches, engineers inventors conferences and so on. But over time they attracted enough investors that they're not paying for anything anymore. In fact they've turned investors away. Now they're just marketing the idea to manufacturers, hoping someone will see the value and but the license to produce it. "Our patent is an international patent, so we can do this in any country," Wright says. If that happens, their $50,000 will look like a small investment. While they won't speculate publicly about the potential value, with all the IV bas, dialysis machines and urine catheters in all the hospitals, clinics and ambulances around the world, both of their families could be pretty well off. "Nobody will actually know how much. That's something between David and I," Wright says. If nothing else, they hope this invention will help fund research and development on the next one. They already have another medical idea and one for the oilpatch where Wright works. But they're keeping those ideas under their hats for mow because they aren't patented yet. "We only want to do one at a time" Wright says.