Despite more than 350 million peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs) sold annually in the U.S. (a figure that surpasses the national population) the industry continues to face significant issues with insertion failure rates and short dwell times. With an average of 10 PIVCs used per hospital admission, there's a clear need for improved techniques and supporting data to enhance outcomes.

Nexus Medical aimed to address this by validating the clinical effectiveness of its TKO 6P anti-reflux needleless connector. However, the process of gathering meaningful, field-based evidence posed major hurdles. Nurse practitioners conducting assessments across hospitals were responsible for visiting 25–50 patients per day, monitoring IV site maintenance, and capturing both quantitative data and visual documentation.

Their tools, primarily spreadsheets and disconnected digital forms, were inefficient, inconsistent, and not designed for real-time clinical use. This fragmented workflow made it difficult to standardize assessments, maintain data integrity, or collect the visual evidence needed to support infection control best practices and substantiate product performance.

A more streamlined, purpose-built solution was urgently needed.

Barnstorming led a comprehensive consulting engagement focused on streamlining data collection, optimizing clinical workflows, and delivering a tailored technology solution.

Key activities included:

• Facilitating needs assessment workshops with key stakeholders

• Conducting in-depth interviews with clinical subject matter experts (SMEs)

• Mapping and analyzing current workflows to identify bottlenecks and root causes

• Recommending procedural improvements and digital transformation strategies

• Delivering actionable recommendations for process improvements and technology enablement

• Defining technical requirements and designing the application architecture

• Creating detailed UI/UX mockups and implementation roadmaps

The centerpiece of the solution was the development and deployment of a custom Assessment App for use on nurse practitioners' iPads.

The app was designed and built to:

• Standardize site assessment workflows across diverse hospital environments

• Streamline the data collection process

• Guide assessors through standardized workflows

• Capture structured clinical data alongside real-time visual evidence

• Manage multiple assessments per day through an intuitive, user-friendly interface

• Seamlessly push collected data to a HIPAA-compliant cloud for secure storage and retrieval

This solution was purpose-built to align with clinical research standards, support scalability, and eliminate the inefficiencies of manual spreadsheets and fragmented tools.

The implementation of the Assessment App delivered measurable improvements across clinical operations and research readiness:

• Increased Efficiency: Enabled assessors to complete 25–50 IV site assessments per day with greater speed and consistency.

• Standardization at Scale: Ensured uniform data collection protocols across multiple facilities and care teams.

• Clinical Study-Ready Data: Maintained data integrity in line with clinical research requirements, enabling its use in regulatory-compliant analysis.

• Research Enablement: Provided the structured evidence needed to validate the efficacy of the TKO 6P device and support the creation of a clinical white paper.

• Improved Experience for Assessors: Delivered a streamlined, mobile-first experience that reduced friction in high-volume assessment workflows.