Talk:Kinetic Concepts

Help developing the Kinetic Concepts article

Currently this article is lacking quite a lot of information and I'd like to work on it to make it a more authoritative source on the company and its history. Before I make any edits or propose any changes, I should disclose that KCI is a company that I have been working with and have received information and advice from them in preparing text for this article. As noted on my user page, I have been reading up on Wikipedia's many policies, including WP:COI, WP:NPOV and due to this I know that I may have a conflict of interest for edits relating to KCI. In light of that, I wanted to introduce myself here and make clear that I'm very much intending to follow all of Wikipedia's guidelines and will not make any controversial edits without reaching community consensus. I hope that other editors will offer their suggestions and help with any edits to the article and I look forward to the process of making this a better article, and one that meets Wikipedia's standards. I'll soon have some draft material in my user space for you to read and offer feedback, meanwhile if you think that you would like to help me in improving the article, please get in touch. Cheers, BexarTech (talk) 17:57, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

I'd be delighted to review any drafts; thank you for being open with the COI. All I would ask is to use reliable, published sources and avoid any marketing speak. If I can help you navigate policy, guidelines, or formatting, please let me know. Kuru (talk) 19:39, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Kuru, it's great to have some interest in improving this article and I hope we can work together on this. I have spent some time recently researching and writing a draft for this article, gathering research on the company and drafting up some material that I believe follows the Manual of Style for companies much better than the current article. My aim has been to follow the guidelines to the best of my ability, especially where it comes to writing in an unbiased way about the company. My draft is now in a subpage, linked from my user page, and I was wondering if you (or any other editors who might like to) would take a look?

• Draft Kinetic Concepts article

Currently the article is fairly short, and doesn't go into much detail on the company's operations. Many facts are out of date, such as the earnings and the number of employees. Not to mention that it barely explains what the company actually does. My draft uses the current content and expands upon it, to provide more, updated information, such as a more complete financial history and an operations section with full details of the company's three business units. I've updated the infobox with the most recent financial results and product information. There is a new section on negative pressure wound therapy, which outlines the company's involvement with developing this technology. I have also expanded the section on LifeCell, to give more background on that company.

As my draft is quite long in comparison to the current article, if you think that it would be useful to look at it section by section, that's fine by me. I'd really appreciate any thoughts that you might have and if you're able to help with implementing changes to the article, that would be fantastic. Looking forward to your feedback, let me know if you've got any questions about the material, I'd be only too happy to answer them. Cheers, BexarTech (talk) 20:08, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

Looks great; clearly not your first rodeo. :) Sources are solid and I saw nothing overtly promotional. The product list is a little over the top; that parameter is best used as a short list of primary or notable products or product categories - not a laundry list. We also avoid usage of (tm) and (r) (see MOS:TM); if that creates a trademark defense issue under agency, I can remove them later for you. There's an interesting series of legal wranglings around the primary product that are omitted; I'm not worried about that since they were absent from the original article as well, but may make for good additions later. Since this is far more solid than I thought it would be, I would suggest moving this into article space (replacing the current article) as soon as you're ready and improve it there. Kuru (talk) 21:46, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, Kuru. I have now copied the draft text and replaced it in the main article. If this is not the right way to go, please feel free to undo it and move it from my user subpage as you see fit. Regarding MOS:TM I took this as guidance: "Do not use the ™ and ® symbols, or similar, in either article text or citations, unless unavoidably necessary for context (for instance, to distinguish between generic and brand names for drugs)." So I have written the article to a specificity in accordance with the advice I have received, however please use your best judgment about what is best. You've been very helpful, and relatedly, I also have a replacement draft of the article Negative pressure wound therapy I have been working on, so if you are willing to have a look at that in the same way, I would be appreciate it greatly. (I have posted a similar announcement and disclosure on that page, however I have not posted a full request explaining the drafts. I can do that soon.) But if you are otherwise occupied, I will understand that, too. Cheers, BexarTech (talk) 19:06, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Content fork removed

So there was a pretty clear content fork in the page, spamming about how great the negative pressure wound therapy technology is and how everyone uses it. First, the evidence base isn't that great, second, this isn't an appropriate venue - we defer details on NPWT to that page where it is dealt with in general terms rather than with a whole bunch of specific product details. WLU (t) (c) Wikipedia's rules:^simple/_complex 14:36, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

New Entry Request and Links with Existing Pages

My name is Sarah Swift, and I am writing in my capacity as Senior Director, Corporate Communications at Kinetic Concepts, Inc. regarding factual updates the company would like to make to this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_Concepts_Inc. The purpose of these updates is to make the entry more accurate as our company has evolved over the past year and is better sourced. Any approved updates will have citations and will be made in accordance with Wikipedia’s rules and guidelines and in keeping with Wikipedia’s “neutral point of view” policy.

On October 28, 2013, Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (KCI) completed its acquisition of Systagenix Wound Management and announced that KCI, Systagenix and LifeCell Corporation had formed one combined company http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131028006023/en/KCI-Completes-Acquisition-Systagenix

In September 2014, KCI, Systagenix and LifeCell will announce the new name for the combined entity. At this time, we would like to rename the current Kinetic Concepts Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_Concepts_Inc to update it to accurately reflect the current organization and redirect users searching for LifeCell Corporation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeCell to the new company page.

The factual edits we’d like to make to the Kinetic Concepts page are as follows: Requested Edit: Rename the page to the new name of the company Actual Edit: New company name [this is currently confidential] Rationale: KCI is now a part of the new company alongside LifeCell and Systagenix

Requested Edit: Change the initial description of the company to reflect the new company Actual Edit: Name is a globally diversified, wound care and regenerative medicine company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Rationale: The current description is inaccurate

Requested Edit: Replace KCI logo with new company logo Actual Edit: Replace KCI logo with new company logo Rationale: KCI is only one part of the new company

Requested Edit: Update facts and figures in the right hand box Actual Edit: Industry: advanced wound therapeutics, medical devices, medical technology, regenerative medicine Founded: 1976 (KCI) Products: Advanced wound care dressings; negative pressure wound therapy; wound healing and regenerative medicine Revenue: 2 billion annual global revenue* Employees: ~6,000 (2014) Website: new company name.com

• Pro forma for Systagenix

Rationale: The current description is inaccurate

Requested Edit: Update content headings and related content to reflect the combined company Actual Edit: History Operations • Advanced Wound Therapeutics • Regenerative Medicine See Also References External Links Rationale: A more streamlined structure that accurately reflects the new company will require less updating in the future

Requested Edit: History Actual Edit: [Name] was formed in October 2013 by uniting KCI, Systagenix and LifeCell. KCI was founded in 1976 in San Antonio, Texas by Dr. Jim Leininger, an emergency room physician[8] who wanted to help prevent the pulmonary complications associated with immobility. Over time, the company developed or acquired a line of therapeutic specialty beds, introducing a specialty bed for acute care patients with pulmonary complications.[9] The company then expanded to introduce the first commercial negative pressure wound therapy products in the mid-1990s.[10][11] KCI acquired regenerative medicine company, LifeCell, in 2008 [12] in a non-hostile transaction for US$1.7 billion.[13][14]

In October 2013, KCI acquired Systagenix Wound Management, originally Johnson & Johnson’s professional wound care business for $485 million.

Rationale: Streamline existing entry to reflect the new diversified business.

Requested Edit: Operations Actual Edit: NAME is structured into two business units Advanced Wound Therapeutics (AWT) and Regenerative Medicine Rationale: Factual information about the company’s new organizational structure.

Requested Edit: Operations: Advanced Wound Therapeutics Actual Edit: Provides integrated solutions and support that address specific customer needs around, for example, incision management, infection control, exudate management and epithelialisation.

The KCI Negative Pressure platform uses negative pressure technology to provide physicians with clinically proven therapies,[3][4][5][6] to treat a broad spectrum of hard-to-heal wounds, e.g., traumatic wounds, pressure ulcers, chronic wounds, diabetic and venous stasis ulcers, surgical incisions and open abdomen management. It is also used to protect surgical incisions that are at risk of infection.

Vacuum Assisted Closure® (V.A.C.®) Therapy delivers negative pressure (a vacuum) to the wound site to create an environment that promotes wound healing by helping to:

draw wound edges together.[7] remove infectious materials.[7] promote granulation tissue formation.[7]

V.A.C.® Therapy has been shown to provide positive clinical and economic outcomes.[3][4][5][6]

Our portfolio of advanced wound dressings includes ADAPTIC TOUCH®, TIELLE®, SILVERCEL®, NON-ADHERENT ACTISORB®, INADINE and market-leading collagen dressings PROMOGRAN® and PROMOGRAN PRISMA®.

Requested Edit: Operations: Regenerative Medicine Actual Edit: Provides tissue repair products for the reconstructive orthopedic and urogynecologic biosurgery markets. Products include: AlloDerm® Regenerative Tissue Matrix used in complex hernia repair and breast reconstruction.

Strattice™ Reconstructive Tissue Matrix is used for the same type of surgical procedures as AlloDerm,® but is derived from porcine dermis.

SPY Elite® System that helps surgeons to intraoperatively assess tissue perfusion.

The REVOLVE™ System that allows high volume fat transfer processing for a range of aesthetic and reconstructive procedures.

All trademarks referenced heiren are owned by or licensed to KCI Licensing, Inc., Systagenix Wound Management, Inc., or LifeCell Corporation and/or their respective affiliates.

We look forward to increasing the accuracy of the company Wikipedia entry.

Sarah Swift Senior Director Corporate Communications Kinetic Concepts, Inc. KCICC (talk) 22:02, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi Sarah. Wikipedia's manual of style does not allow for trademark symbols in the article-text, just like you wouldn't expect The New York Times to include trademarks if they wrote a story on your company. Obviously we cannot move the article to a new name without knowing the company's new name (listed as confidential). Many of the sources provided are press releases, whereas we require credible, independent sources, such as bylined articles from the media. If you can provide an annual report or something along those lines, these are acceptable however for the infobox data (employee count, number of offices, revenues, etc. I would encourage you to update the logo and infobox data directly, but only the CEO and any founders should be listed under Key People and it should not include long product lists. Hope this helps. CorporateM (Talk) 19:00, 18 January 2015 (UTC)