Practical stethoscope cover and dispenser therefor

Acoustics – Anatomic or prosthetic relation – Ear and mouth

Reexamination Certificate

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C181S137000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06467568

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to practical stethoscope cover means and means for dispensing thereof, such that medical practitioners, at low cost and with minimal effort are enabled to minimize the chances of germ transmission via the stethoscope as a transmission means. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the stethoscope cover is dispensed in a single hand (left or right) action for covering a stethoscope cover. The stethoscope cover disclosed herein may also be applied to other medical and paramedical uses and devices, such as occluders used in ophthalmology.
2. Background Information
It appears to have been relatively widely recognized, as far back in medical science as the days of Dr. Semilweis that pathogens may be transmitted from one patient or one location to another via contact with physician's hands, instruments, clothing and the like. In order to stem infectious disease in an African hospital, Dr. Semilweis instituted the revolutionary (for the time) requirement that every physician, between each patient, had to carefully wash his or her hands. The beneficial effect was immediate and spectacular.
The general term used in medical science to describe the effect whereby potentially pathogenic organisms, including but not limited to bacteria, viruses, proteins, and the like, are unwittingly transmitted from one patient or location to another is “nosocomial infection.” The means by which such organisms are transmitted are generally referred to a “fomites”.
Medical science has advanced considerably since the days of Dr. Semilweis, and the need for cleanliness, and sterility of medical instrumentation has been generally accepted. However, in one particular area, there appears to be circumstantial evidence of nosocomial infection by a particular type of fomite: the stethoscope.
As is generally known and appreciated, the term “stethoscope” is generally applied to any instrument which a physician may utilize to amplify sounds produced by various portions of a patient's body. Typically, as is still generally the case, a stethoscope comprises a single head:or a dual-headed device. Typically, the single headed device, or one of the heads of the dual headed device is an enclosed, cavernous “bulb”, wherein the enclosed bulb-comprises a taut diaphragm stretched across the opening of the bulb. In most dual head stethoscopes, the second head is merely a bell shaped device. To a port on each bulb is connected a tube, terminating in an earpiece, for insertion into the ear of a physician, nurse or other user of the stethoscope. The stethoscope operates by virtue of the taut diaphragm acting as an amplifying means for any sounds, vibrations and perturbations that occur at the surface to which the taut diaphragm is placed in contact. The combination of the cavernous bulb and the taut diaphragm is generally referred to as the stethoscope head. The amplified sounds travel from the stethoscope head, through the tube, and hence into the physicians' ear, whereby certain diagnoses may be made by the physician.
In the medical arts, the danger of nosocomial infection via patient-to-patient contact of the same stethoscope head, either with or without intermittent disinfection of the stethoscope head, has been relatively widely recognized. Yet, to date, there does not seem to have been adopted a generally used, practical, simple, inexpensive and effective means for prevention of the stethoscope head acting as a fomite. Study after study in the medical literature proclaims this danger and the need for an effective means of combating this problem. In addition, multiple patents have issued in the United States and elsewhere, purporting to address and solve this serious problem. Yet, as must be emphasized, here, it does not appear that any practical, effective, and cost-effective means has yet been generally adopted to limit or eliminate this problem.
In order to briefly survey efforts that have been made to date to address this problem in the United States patent literature, a brief discussion follows on several issued United States patents in which various barrier means, containers and the like have been described, in an effort to address the above-identified problems. The following discussion is provided, in addition, such that by comparison with the to-date described stethoscope barrier means, the virtues and differentiating features of the present invention may be appreciated by counterpoint. To assist in identifying these distinctions, the following brief description of the practical stethoscope cover of this invention is first provided, which description is greatly expanded upon in the section of this disclosure entitled “PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION”, and in the claims which follow.
The practical stethoscope cover of this invention in its most essential elements, comprises any form of material which acts as an effective, inexpensive and acoustically transmissive barrier means for easy application and removal from the head, or heads, of a stethoscope. The barrier means should be non-transmissive for dirt, organisms, oils and the like, all of which may carry pathogenic components. Ideally, the barrier material is also soft and temperature insulating, such that the stethoscope cover when applied to the head of a stethoscope acts as a buffer against the shock of cold metal to skin contact. Significantly, embodiments of the stethoscope cover of this invention are easily applied by a physician, nurse or other medical practitioner to the head of a single or dual head stethoscope, typically in a quick, simple, easy single-handed operation. This invention comprehends at least two principal stethoscope cover designs. A first principal design comprises a stethoscope cover which can be used for a single head stethoscope, such that the diaphragm of the stethoscope can, in a single-handed operation, be slipped into a pouch formed from a material which will prevent contamination of the stethoscope head by microorganisms residing on the skin of a patient. The pouch design involves a unitary piece of a material to form a flat bottom portion and an overlapped top portion having an overlapped envelope and sealed sides. Described herein below are various modifications, variations, and additions to this basic design, along with a dispensing means for use in combination with this first principal design. A second principal design comprises a stethoscope cover which can be used on single and dual head stethoscopes. The edges of the diaphragm of either type of stethoscope can easily be slipped under retaining folds formed in the cover, securing the cover to the stethoscope, while the remaining elongate material is drawn over the bell, in the case of a dual head device, or over the back (top) of the single head device, thereby completely covering and insulating the stethoscope head(s) from contamination. Described herein below are variations, modifications and additions to this second principal design, along with dispensing means for use in combination with this second principal design. A greater appreciation of the details, various embodiments, and practicality of the instant invention will be achieved upon review of the below provided section entitled “PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION”, the provided drawings and the appended claims.
Having generally described the stethoscope cover of this invention, the reader's attention is directed to the following United States patents in which various devices are described, with the intent of providing stethoscope covers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4, 871, 046 discloses and claims a disposable stethoscope head shield made form a unitary bottom portion and top portions which are connected to the bottom portion so as to define an envelope into which a stethoscope head may be inserted and an opening between the top portions through which the stethoscope head is introduced into the envelope. This stethoscope cover appears to be particularly suited only for single head stethoscopes and would appear to

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