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Be Green with B. Braun: Company Shares Expertise, Environmentally Responsible Products at ASHP 2008

Posted on: Friday, 5 December 2008, 08:36 CST

Waste Weight Calculation Tool Available in Booth #236

BETHLEHEM, Pa., Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Demonstrating its commitment to environmentally responsible products and practices, B. Braun Medical Inc. (B. Braun) will present its portfolio of green products at the 43rd American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition (ASHP), Dec. 8 - 10 in Orlando (Booth #236).

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081022/NYW008LOGO )

Visitors to B. Braun's booth will have access to B. Braun's Waste Weight Calculation Tool - an online program that allows hospitals to see how much environmental waste they could reduce by using B. Braun IV bags. The tool can be used to quantify how B. Braun's EXCEL(R) and PAB(R) Partial Additive Bag products can reduce plastic waste compared to either Baxter's PVC/DEHP bag (by 28%) or Hospira's PVC/DEHP bag (by 48%). Booth visitors simply input the approximate number of IV bags their facility disposes of during the course of a year.

"B. Braun has supplied providers with environmentally responsible products for more than 30 years and continues to seek new ways of incorporating 'green' practices into both our products and general business practices," said Rick Williamson, Director of Marketing for Drug Delivery for B. Braun Medical Inc. "Using our waste weight calculation tool at this year's ASHP Midyear Meeting, attendees will see how our IV bags can help them significantly reduce their facilities' carbon footprint."

In fact, if every hospital in the United States had used B. Braun's PVC-free, DEHP-free IV products in 2007, more than 46,000 tons of material could have been recycled, rather than dumped in landfills or incinerated, which releases harmful dioxins in the air.

In addition to providing the waste weight calculator and other environmental information, Central Admixture Pharmacy Services Inc. (CAPS) - a B. Braun company - is supporting a symposium titled, "Safe Labeling of IV Drug Products and the Role of Bar-Coding and Outsourcing to Enhance Patient Safety," from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 8. The symposium session, being held in room W102, will focus on the requirements for clear, accurate and user-friendly product labeling to reduce the potential for medication errors with IV drug products and infusions. Guidelines developed by The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) for the design of labels applied to IV drugs and infusions will also be presented.

For more information on B. Braun's environmental initiatives, please visit: http://evergreen.bbraunusa.com/index.html?FROM=NEWS.

About Central Admixture Pharmacy Services (CAPS(R))

Pioneered in 1991, CAPS(R) has grown into the nation's largest network of outsourcing admixture pharmacies, servicing more than 1,000 hospitals and home care facilities. CAPS(R) pharmacies are state-licensed, FDA-registered and operate 365-days a year to admix, dispense and deliver labeled, patient-specific and anticipatory IV prescriptions to its growing family of customers. CAPS(R) is a B. Braun company.

About B. Braun

B. Braun is a global leader in infusion therapy and pain management as well as a pioneer in passive safety devices and PVC-free/DEHP-free products. Every day, B. Braun employees worldwide share their knowledge with colleagues and customers to improve working processes in hospitals and medical practices and to enhance safety for patients, physicians and nurses.

Consistently recognized by Frost & Sullivan and KLAS for its medical technology and support services, B. Braun promotes best practices for continuous improvement of healthcare and, guided by its "Sharing Expertise" philosophy, helps today's healthcare workers address critical issues including environmental responsibility, medication errors reduction and infection prevention. For more information, call 800-227-2862, e-mail us at inquiry.us@bbraun.com or visit B. Braun at www.bbraunusa.com.

SOURCE B. Braun

Source: PR Newswire

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