Maria is an oncology nurse from Toronto, Canada and has cared for both children and adults throughout her career. She holds nationally recognized certifications with the Canadian Vascular Access Association and with the Canadian Nurses Association in Oncology.

During more than 30 years in nursing, Maria has cared for thousands of patients with IV lines. These IV lines were often difficult to disconnect due to their small size, overtightening and lack of grip. She observed that this resulted in wasted time, on average about three to eight minutes per difficult disconnection, although wasting 30 minutes was not unheard of. Nurses are forced to find workarounds to the problem and are using potentially damaging methods, such as metal forceps, pliers or whatever was handy to provide a better grip. After also observing anxiety on patients’ faces as nurses struggled with loosening their IV line, Maria was compelled to address this problem. With no suitable solution available, she decided to create one herself.

Enlisting the help of an engineering firm she began developing numerous prototypes, and during the design phase, gathered regular feedback from nurses from various specialties to perfect the design.

Yewtwist went through many iterations, design changes and careful selection of materials before landing on the present design. As an end user, Maria was in a unique position to know what the product needed to be able to do, the necessary features and always tried to think of what nurses would want in the product.

The result is Yewtwist: a non-damaging, lightweight tool to undo tight connections safely and efficiently to reduce lost time and improve patient care. It has 3 distinct jaw sizes to adapt to most IV and feeding tube connections and was designed to provide the user optimal strength and grip.

See the Yewtwist in practice in this 15 second video!

‘Yewtwist’ is named after the Pacific Yew tree which has rich symbolism across various cultures and histories, often associated with immortality and eternal life due to its remarkable longevity and ability to regenerate. Compounds derived from its bark are used in chemotherapy treatments to inhibit cancer cell growth. This speaks to Maria’s experiences in oncology and was her way of honoring this magnificent tree.

Eloquest Healthcare is committed to providing solutions that improve clinical outcomes, advances the quality of care, and reduces the total cost of patient care.

For Yewtwist Samples and Pricing in the United States Click Here

For Yewtwist Orders please visit cs@ferndalelabs.com or call (877) 352-6295