DUBLIN, Ohio, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) announced today the launch of the first-of-its-kind Stray Away™ hair management drape for more efficient surgical procedure preparation. The Stray Away™ drape is specifically designed and manufactured by Cardinal Health to help minimize hair from obstructing the surgical area and to improve patient preparation time and experience.

Pre-operative preparations for craniofacial and neurosurgical procedures often involve manual and tedious braiding, tying, and, in some cases, invasive shaving or even stapling of a patient's hair to ensure it is clear of the surgical area. The innovative design of the Stray Away™ drape safely and easily helps keep patient hair removed from the sterile surgical site.

The Stray Away™ drape is a result of a collaboration between Cardinal Health and one of its customers, MedStar Health, which helps its associates transform innovative ideas and discoveries into commercial products and other solutions through the MedStar Institute for Innovation Inventor Services team.

Featuring three unique anchoring points, the Stray Away™ drape secures the patient's hair away from the surgical area, leveraging linear edge tape, hair Velcro^® and stabilizing clips. The anchoring points are designed to maintain a firm grip on the head and hair of the patient for a steady hold throughout surgery and can be removed quickly with less effort than traditional methods after surgery is complete.

"We remain committed to understanding patient needs and delivering solutions that address patient pain points for our customers," said Kelley Moffett, senior vice president of Global Medical Products at Cardinal Health. "With the launch of the Stray Away™ drape, we can offer our customers a solution to an ongoing problem, giving back valuable time to the surgical team, and helping patients have a less intrusive experience. We are thrilled to have been able to partner with the MedStar Health team on this product, and know many other healthcare providers and their patients will also benefit."

The idea for the Stray Away™ hair drape was first disclosed by a past MedStar Health plastic surgery resident and her educational peer as a way to help alleviate challenges with maintaining sterility and control over hair-bearing surgical areas, while wanting to refrain from shaving their patients' hair before surgery.

"The Stray Away™ hair drape exemplifies how outstanding medical technology advancements are often identified and captured by healthcare professionals innovating to enhance their daily practice," said Marck-Arthur Clerveau, director of Business Innovation, MedStar Health. "We appreciate our partnership with Cardinal Health to successfully introduce this solution to the market. MedStar Health is proud to build upon our history of empowering and connecting our inventors to make a meaningful impact through external collaboration."

About Cardinal Health  

Cardinal Health is a distributor of pharmaceuticals, a global manufacturer and distributor of medical and laboratory products, and a provider of performance and data solutions for health care facilities. With more than 50 years in business, operations in more than 30 countries and approximately 46,500 employees globally, Cardinal Health is essential to care. Information about Cardinal Health is available at cardinalhealth.com.

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