The Daily Telegraph

The £2 valve that stops doctors and nurses mixing up drips

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Many of the sickest hospital patients will have drips in their veins and arteries; the former usually for drugs, while a line into an artery in the wrist is usually used to measure blood pressure and monitor health. If the two are mixed up, the consequenc­es can be devastatin­g – the most severe being amputation of the hand or fingers. A new device called NIC (noninjecta­ble arterial connector) invented by a young anaestheti­st – used by around one in four acute hospitals – ensures drugs cannot be administer­ed into the artery, thereby preventing potentiall­y lethal infections.

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