HOUSTON – Prior to 2008, Texas Children’s Hospital, a 560-bed facility, managed all product alerts and recalls through its quality and safety group, and recall notices were distributed via e-mail.

In June, 2009, RASMAS became operational at Texas Children’s Hospital. Texas Children’s has approximately 63 responders and a total of 10 coordinators, who are all involved in the overall alert process. These individuals ensure appropriate recall management responsibility across all product domains.

The hospital reports that staff receives recall notices in a more timely and comprehensive fashion than before. Accountability also has improved by assigning designated individuals to specific product domains.

For more details about the case, click here or on the RASMAS Case Study logo at top right.

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PITTSBURGH – Dorel Industries said it will build a $3.6 million design and research center at its Dorel Juvenile Group USA car seat manufacturing facility in Columbus, Indiana. The Design and Development Competency Center will be located adjacent to Dorel’s current one million square foot car seat manufacturing facility. Dorel’s juvenile brands include Safety 1st, Quinny, Cosco, Maxi-Cosi and Bebe Confort, as well as sports brands Cannondale, Schwinn, GT, Mongoose, Iron Horse and SUGOI. (more…)

NORTH HILLS, Calif. — The infant product maker Munchkin Inc. purchased Lindam, the U.K.’s baby safety and nursery products brand. The purchase adds Lindam’s safety portfolio, including gates, to a Munchkin portfolio that includes categories such as bath, care, travel and feeding as well as pet categories through the company’s pet division, Bamboo.

“Munchkin’s purchase of Lindam accomplishes two strategic objectives for our future growth,” stated Steven B. Dunn, chairman and chief executive officer, Munchkin, Inc. Lindam is a privately held company based in the U.K. Lindam’s current baby care portfolio includes safety gates, baby monitors, feeding accessories, jumpers and other nursery products. (more…)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and The Window Covering Safety Council have joined to offer free retrofit kits for Roman style and flat panel shades and roll up blinds.

The corrective action is designed to prevent the potential hazard of strangulation to young children. The recall involves window coverings that can form a loop and cause strangulation. According to the C.P.S.C., since 1990, more than 200 infants and children have died from accidentally strangling in window cords.

See online at www.windowcoverings.org or call 1-800-506-4636.

DALLAS – A new campaign is teaching teens to step in during cardiac arrest using tunes like Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and Madonna’s “Who’s that Girl” and a MySpace page. The campaign, sponsored by a $1 million grant from the Medtronic Foundation, was developed by the American Heart Association.

Be the Beat teaches 12- to 15-year-olds fun ways to learn the basics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, better known as CPR, and the basics of using an automated external defibrillator, or AED. Video games, interactive quizzes and 100-beat-per-minute songs can help teach teens and tweens what to do if someone collapses in sudden cardiac arrest. The campaign is quite cheeky; it makes it for “teens” only and even uses the U-2 song “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

See more at www.americanheart.org, www.medtronic.com or bethebeat.heart.org

PHILADELPHIA – Pediatric immunologist Jordan S. Orange, M.D., Ph.D. of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has received The Judson Daland Prize for Clinical Investigation. The Daland Prize recognizes outstanding achievements in patient-oriented research, and is awarded by the American Philosophical Society, an organization founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin.

Orange won the award for his contributions to research and treatment of inherited immune deficiency diseases, which include Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome.

Dr. Orange’s work involves the innate immune system, the body’s first defense against life-threatening infections and diseases. His particular research focus is natural killer cells, a major component of the innate immune system, which have an inherent ability to destroy cancer or virus-infected cells.