OUR OFFER: Switch from forced-air to HotDog in your orthopedic ORs. If implant infection rates don't decline, we'll refund your money. Every penny.
"Really? How can HotDog make such an offer?"
Unlike forced-air, air-free HotDog warming doesn't generate waste heat that can contaminate the sterile field (even with laminar flow ventilation).
Hospitals that have switched to HotDog report significant reduction in deep joint SSIs. For example, a #1 rated hospital in Minnesota experienced an 81% reduction after switching to air-free warming. In the United Kingdom, a top NHS hospital dropped from a 3.1% deep joint infection rate when using forced-air to 0.81% when using HotDog warming.
"What's the catch? Where's the fine print?"
No catch...here's all you have to do:
1. HotDog must be used exclusively for 12 months...after a 2-month wash-out of existing infections.
2. The hospital must have tracked orthopedic implant infections while warming with forced-air and continue tracking while using HotDog.
3. The hospital must comply with SCIP warming standards.
That's it. If orthopedic implant infections are not reduced during the 12 month trial and the hospital wants to switch back to forced-air in its orthopedic suites, we'll take the HotDog systems back and provide a full, 100% refund.
*This refund guarantee is not intended to be a claim that HotDog warming reduces infections. It is merely an offer to refund money under the circumstances specified. The refund must be requested within 60 days of completing the trial.
HotDog warming stands behind its products.
Unlike others, we're not blowing hot air.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Augustine claiming that HotDog warming reduces orthopedic infections?
No. Medical device "claims" must be cleared by the FDA. We do not claim that HotDog reduces infections. We do, however, fervently believe the following: If a hospital has been routinely using forced-air warming in orthopedic implant surgery and switches to air-free HotDog warming, its rate of deep infection on those implant cases will decline. Based on that belief, we are comfortable making the contractual offer.
2. Is Augustine claiming that forced-air warming causes infections?
Of course not. "Cause" has both legal and scientific meanings. To our knowledge, no court has ever determined that a forced-air warming system "caused" a surgical infection. To prove "cause" in a scientific sense would require a massive controlled, blinded study. No such study has been done...and may not even be possible.
3. What is Augustine asserting?
The facts established by published research are as follows:
a. Surgical site infections are caused by bacterial contamination of wounds.
b. Operating room ventilation systems are designed to keep contaminated air away from surgical wounds.
c. The waste heat of forced-air blowers is released near the "dirty" floor and can rise into the sterile field, defeating the protection of both conventional and laminar-flow ventilation systems.
d. Bair Hugger forced-air blowers often spew millions of bacteria-sized particles per hour into the OR. The rising waste heat becomes a delivery system for these particles.
e. A single bacterium can be sufficient to cause an infection in orthopedic implant surgery.
f. HotDog warming does not blow air and does not generate significant waste heat.
That's it. Those are all the facts we know...and all the facts we assert. Based on these facts, however, we confidently offer customers our Refund Guarantee.
4. What must a customer do to get the refund?
a. Switch from forced-air warming to HotDog warming in their orthopedic surgery ORs, having standardly used FAW in the past.
b. Have tracked orthopedic implant infections for at least 24 months prior to the switch.
c. Allow for a two-month "wash-out" and then track orthopedic implant infections for the next 12 months, following SCIP warming guidelines and exclusively using HotDog warming.
d. Document that the infection rate has not fallen and switch the orthopedic surgery ORs back to forced-air warming.
e. Within 60 days of the conclusion of the trial, return the HotDog systems to Augustine and make the refund claim.
Upon confirmation that the claim is valid, we will issue a full refund.
