Surgery: splint – brace – or bandage – Bandage structure – Support covering
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-25
2003-12-16
Lucchesi, Nicholas D. (Department: 3764)
Surgery: splint, brace, or bandage
Bandage structure
Support covering
C602S078000, C604S093010, C604S174000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06663582
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to devices facilitating the use of syringes and needles for injecting medication into a patient, and more specifically relates to a device enabling a single medical practitioner to hold a medication vial and draw medication therefrom with a syringe and needle using only one hand.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Medical procedures performed in doctor offices and hospitals often require the injection of medication into a patient using a syringe and needle. For instance, it is frequently necessary, or at least desirable for the comfort of the patient, to inject a local anesthetic such as lidocaine into a part of the patient's body. It is standard procedure for a doctor or other medical practitioner to put on sterile gloves before touching or working on the patient to reduce the risk of introducing infectious microbes into the patient's body. It is also standard procedure for instruments that will be used upon the patient during a procedure, such as a needle and syringe used for injecting medications, to be sterilized before the procedure and to be laid out upon a sterile tray or the like. Proper protocol in order to preserve the sterile field calls for the doctor not to touch anything outside the sterile field once he or she has donned the sterile gloves and prior to touching the patient or any instrument that will be used on the patient.
The use of injectable medications complicates preservation of the sterile field because the outer surfaces of medication vials containing injectable medications are generally non-sterile. It is against protocol, therefore, for the medical practitioner to touch a medication vial with his or her gloved hands prior to working on a patient. Consequently, medical practitioners are forced to engage in all sorts of inefficient and/or potentially unsafe tactics simply to draw medication from a medication vial with a needle and syringe. The procedure cannot ordinarily be accomplished with one hand because the vial must be inverted (cap side down) while drawing medication into the syringe in order to prevent air from being drawn into the syringe, and the vial must be restrained to allow the needle to be pulled back out. One method that is commonly used is for the practitioner to call for an assistant to hold the medication vial while the practitioner inserts the needle into the vial and draws medication therefrom. If an assistant is not immediately available, the practitioner may be forced to wait until an assistant is free to come and assist. Thus, valuable time can be wasted, and meanwhile the patient may be in need of pain-relieving or other medication. Furthermore, it is possible for the practitioner to accidentally miss the vial and stick the assistant with the needle, which not only renders the needle non-sterile so that it must be discarded and replaced with a new sterile needle, but is also undesirable for the assistant, needless to say.
Another procedure that some medical practitioners use is to insert the needle into the vial while the vial is sitting upright on a table or the like, pick the vial up using only the inserted needle and syringe held in one hand, place the vial into the crook of the other arm, and grasp the vial between the upper arm and forearm. The practitioner then raises his or her arm to turn the vial cap side down so that medication can be drawn into the syringe, and then withdraws the needle from the vial. The practitioner then must put the vial back down on a table or other surface, using only his arm to maneuver the vial. If the vial is a multi-dose vial that is to be used again for the same patient, the vial must be set down on the table in an upright position so that the same procedure can be repeated when the practitioner needs to draw additional medication from the vial. It can be very difficult to set a vial down in an upright position using only one's arm holding the vial in the crook of the arm.
Thus, a need has long existed and continues to exist for a device enabling a medical practitioner to hold and maneuver medication vials and draw medication from the vials with a needle and syringe without having to touch or hold the vials with the hands.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses the above needs and achieves other advantages, by providing a wearable vial holder for securing at least one vial of medication on the person of a medical practitioner. The wearable vial holder comprises a body-engaging member structured and arranged to be secured to a part of the body of a medical practitioner, and a vial gripper affixed to the body-engaging member for releasably grasping and holding at least one vial so that the practitioner has access to the vial(s) for one-handed drawing of medication therefrom using a syringe with a needle.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the body-engaging member is configured to wrap securely about an arm of a medical practitioner so that it can be positioned, for example, on the forearm just below the elbow. However, the body-engaging member alternatively can be positioned on other parts of the body. The body-engaging member in preferred embodiments advantageously incorporates one or more elastic elements facilitating a secure, snug fit about the part of the body on which it is positioned, and preferably is also adjustable in size to fit people of varying sizes and proportions.
A preferred construction of the wearable vial holder employs a two-component releasable fastening system, such as a hook and loop (e.g., VELCRO®) system, providing releasable attachment between the body-engaging member and the vial gripper. In a preferred embodiment, the vial gripper comprises a strap or other gripping member that has one component of the releasable fastening system on a surface thereof, and the body-engaging member has the other component of the fastening system on its surface. Accordingly, the vial gripping member can be releasably attached to the body-engaging member such that a vial is gripped therebetween. The gripping member can be attached to the body-engaging member in various positions thereon, so as to accommodate various sizes and/or numbers of vials. If desired, one end of the gripping member can be permanently attached to the body-engaging member, such as by sewing or any other suitable technique.
The body-engaging member preferably incorporates a needle-puncture-resistant shield for covering the part of the body of the medical practitioner that is adjacent to a vial held in the vial gripper. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the body-engaging member is a multi-layer construction including at least a shield layer and an outer layer whose outer surface has one component of the two-component releasable fastening system. For example, the outer surface of the outer layer can be formed by a loop component of a hook and loop fastening system. The body-engaging member can also include an inner layer that lies against the body part of the practitioner and that is breathable for comfort.
Preferably, a vial for use with the wearable vial holder has an attachment member affixed to it. The attachment member on the vial preferably comprises a component of the releasable two-component fastening system, which works in cooperation with the other component of the fastening system disposed on the outer surface of the body-engaging member, in order to releasably affix the vial to the body-engaging member. The attachment member on the vial allows the vial to be secured in place on the body-engaging member so that the practitioner's hand is then free to operate the vial gripper, which preferably comprises a strap or the like having the same component of the fastening system that is on the vial. In exemplary embodiments of the invention, the vial has a patch of hook material of a hook and loop fastening system attached to it, the vial gripper also has hook material, and the body-engaging member's outer surface has a loop component of the fastening system. However, various arrangements of the fastening s
Ballard Carol Jeannette
Ballard Jerome Douglas
Lerra Christopher George
Cambridge Marketing, Inc.
Hamilton Lalita M.
Lucchesi Nicholas D.
LandOfFree
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