Needlestick first response kit and method of using same

• US 6,234,980 B1
• Filed: 08/27/1999
• Issued: 05/22/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Medcare Medical Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Medcare Medical Group, Inc.
• Inventors: Bell, Craig J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jackson, Gary
• Application Number:
  US09/384,528
• Time in Patent Office: 634 Days
• Field of Search: 600/578, 604/314, 604/316, 606/203
• US Class Current: 600/578
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1322 comprising a flexible encircling member A61B17/135 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2050/0065 Peelable cover
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150022 for capillary blood or interstitial fluid
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150099 by negative pressure, other than vacuum extraction into a syringe by pulling on the piston rod or into pre-evacuated tubes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150236 Pistons, i.e. cylindrical bodies that sit inside the syringe barrel, typically with an air tight seal, and slide in the barrel to create a vacuum or to expel blood
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150244 Rods for actuating or driving the piston, i.e. the cylindrical body that sits inside the syringe barrel, typically with an air tight seal, and slides in the barrel to create a vacuum or to expel blood
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150305 Packages specially adapted for piercing devices or blood sampling devices kits for diabetes A61M5/003; packaging in general B65D
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150343 Collection vessels for collecting blood samples from the skin surface, e.g. test tubes, cuvettes sampling from within body cavities A61B5/150015, A61B5/150045
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 50/30 Containers specially adapted for packaging, protecting, dispensing, collecting or disposing of surgical or diagnostic appliances or instruments for wound clamps A61B17/10; for ligaturing clips A61B17/122; packages or dispensers for surgical gloves or finger-stalls A61B42/40
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 50/33 Trays
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/321 Means for protection against accidental injuries by used needles

Abstract

A method and apparatus for treatment of inadvertent sharps/needlestick injuries to healthcare workers and the like. The method and apparatus provide a tourniquet for restricting blood flow to the site of the sharps injury, an apparatus for mechanically applying a negative pressure directly to the site of the sharps injury and removing bodily fluids and blood therefrom, a mechanism for delivering an antimicrobial/antiviral agent(s) to the site, and bandage for covering the site of the sharps injury following treatment. The first aid components are preferable all contained within a convenient time saving kit to facilitate ease of use by an injured individual.

Claims

1. An apparatus for generating a negative pressure for expressing bodily fluid from a site of a sharp'"'"'s injury, the apparatus comprising:

a substantially hollow body being closed at one end except for actuating rod aperture, and being open at the opposite end thereof, the open opposite end communicating with an orifice;

a piston being housed within the body, the piston being actuated by a knob located outside of the body, the knob being coupled to the piston via an actuating rod extending through the actuating rod aperture, the actuator rod having a passageway extending axially therealong, and one end of the passageway communicating with an end face of the piston facing the open end and an opposite end of the passageway communicating with an vent located adjacent the knob;

a hollow tip defining an intermediate chamber therein, the hollow tip having one end being coupled to the orifice, and the opposite end of the tip defining an inlet which is sufficiently large to encompass the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury; and

a perimeter portion of the inlet of the tip being provided with a flexible annular sealing member to facilitate sealing against skin adjacent the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury and expressing bodily fluid from the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury in and through the intermediate reservoir during utilization of the apparatus the inlet of the tip being sufficiently large to at least partially receive an end portion of a digit of an individual, and the flexible sealing member extends radially inwardly from a perimeter of the inlet to seal against a circumference of the end portion of the received digit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tip is provided with a cap for closing the inlet of the tip, and the cap is connected to the tip by a flexible tether member.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tip has an absorbent material located within the intermediate chamber to facilitate absorbing and retaining of expressed bodily fluid[s] during use of the apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flexible sealing member has a passage with an inner circumference which has a diameter small than a diameter of the inlet to achieve a fluid tight seal with the received digit.

5. A kit of parts for providing first aid to needle stick injury, the kit of parts comprising a container housing the following first aid components:

a tourniquet comprising an elongate member having a first end and a second end, the first end of the tourniquet having a central aperture with the second end of the tourniquet extending through the central aperture, and the second end of the tourniquet having a mechanism for releasably fastening the second end of the tourniquet to the elongate member to secure the tourniquet in a tightened position; and

a negative pressure apparatus having a tip for encasing the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury and generating negative pressure in the tip to facilitate expressing bodily fluid from a site of a sharp'"'"'s injury;

the negative pressure apparatus comprising;

a substantially hollow body which being closed at one end except for actuating rod aperture, and being open at the opposite end thereof, the open opposite end communicating with an orifice;

a piston housed within the body, the piston being actuated by a knob located outside of the body, the knob being coupled to the piston via an actuating rod extending through the actuating rod aperture, the actuator rod having a passageway extending axially therealong, and one end of the passageway communicates with an end face of the piston facing the open end and an opposite end of the passageway communicates with an vent located adjacent the knob;

the tip defining an intermediate chamber therein, the tip has one end coupled to the orifice, and the opposite end of the tip defining an inlet which is sufficiently large to encompass the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury; and

a perimeter portion of the inlet of the tip is provided with a flexible annular sealing member to facilitate sealing against skin adjacent the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury for facilitating expressing bodily fluid from the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury in and through the intermediate reservoir during operation of the apparatus the inlet of the tip being sufficiently large to at least partially receive an end portion of a digit of an individual, and the flexible sealing member extends radially inwardly from a perimeter of the inlet to seal against a circumference of the end portion of the received digit.

6. The kit of parts according to claim 5, wherein the tip is provided with a cap for closing the inlet of the tip, and the cap is connected to the tip by a flexible tether member.

7. The kit of parts according to claim 5, wherein the tip has an absorbent material located within the intermediate chamber to facilitate absorbing and retaining of expressed bodily fluid during use of the apparatus.

8. The kit of parts according to claim 5, wherein the flexible sealing member has a passage with an inner circumference which has a diameter small than a diameter of the inlet to achieve a fluid tight seal with the received digit.

9. The kit of parts according to claim 5, wherein kit of parts includes a container with a plurality of cavities formed therein, and each of the cavities accommodates one of the first aid components of the kit of parts.

10. The kit of parts according to claim 5, wherein the container includes a lid for retaining all of the first aid components within the container when not in use.

11. The kit of parts according to claim 5, wherein the sealing member includes an adhesive and adhesive of the sealing member is covered by a release strip, at least one of the plurality of cavities is provided with an adhesive therein, and the adhesive is secured to the release strip so that the release strip is removed from the sealing member upon removing the tip from the container.

12. The kit of parts according to claim 5, wherein the piston divides an interior of the body into a first chamber, located between the piston and a closed base wall of the body, and a second chamber, located between the piston and the opened orifice end of the body.

13. The kit of parts according to claim 5, wherein the kit of parts further comprises:

a microbiological agent for cleaning of the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury following expressing bodily fluid therefrom; and

at lease one bandage for covering the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury following cleaning.

14. A method of providing first aid to a site of a sharp'"'"'s injury on a digit of an individual, the method comprising of steps:

placing a tourniquet about a limb of an individual having a needle stick and tightening the tourniquet to minimize the flow of blood in the limb of the individual with the needle stick;

encompassing a site of a sharp'"'"'s injury with a negative pressure apparatus for generating negative pressure by passing the digit with the sharp'"'"'s injury into an inlet of a tip of the negative pressure device and sealing a perimeter of the digit, with the sharp'"'"'s injury, with a flexible perimeter sealing member of the tip, and the flexible perimeter sealing member having a passage with an inner circumference having a diameter small than a diameter of the inlet to achieve a fluid tight seal therebetween;

expressing bodily fluid from the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury with the negative pressure apparatus until sufficient amount of bodily fluid is expressed;

removing the negative pressure apparatus from the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury;

cleaning the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury with a cleansing agent; and

covering the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury with a bandage.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of using a syringe as the negative pressure apparatus, with the syringe comprising:

a substantially hollow body being closed at one end except for actuating rod aperture, and being open at the opposite end thereof, the open opposite end communicating with an orifice;

a piston being housed within the body, the piston being actuated by a knob located outside of the body, the knob being coupled to the piston via an actuating rod extending through the actuating rod aperture, the actuator rod having a passageway extending axially therealong, and one end of the passageway communicating with an end face of the piston facing the open end and an opposite end of the passageway communicating with an vent located adjacent the knob;

the tip is hollow and defines an intermediate chamber therein, the hollow tip having one end being coupled to the orifice, and the opposite end of the tip defining the inlet which is sufficiently large to encompass the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury; and

a perimeter portion of the inlet of the tip being secured to the flexible perimeter sealing member to facilitate sealing against skin adjacent the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury for facilitating expressing bodily fluid from the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury in and through the intermediate reservoir during operation of the apparatus.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the steps of using a kit of parts, for providing first aid to needle stick injury, comprising a container housing the each of the following first aid components:

the tourniquet;

the syringe;

the cleansing agent for cleaning of the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury; and

at lease one bandage for covering the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury following cleaning.

17. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of applying negative pressure to the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury, via the negative pressure apparatus, for a time period of at least 5 seconds.

18. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of covering an of the negative pressure apparatus and sending the covered negative pressure apparatus, with the expressed bodily fluid to a test facility for testing of the extracted bodily fluid.

19. An apparatus for generating a negative pressure for expressing bodily fluid from a site of a sharp'"'"'s injury, the apparatus comprising:

a substantially hollow body being closed at one end except for actuating rod aperture, and being open at the opposite end thereof, the open opposite end communicating with an orifice;

a piston being housed within the body, the piston being actuated by a knob located outside of the body, the knob being coupled to the piston via an actuating rod extending through the actuating rod aperture, the actuator rod having a passageway extending axially therealong, and one end of the passageway communicating with an end face of the piston facing the open end and an opposite end of the passageway communicating with an vent located adjacent the knob;

a hollow tip defining an intermediate chamber therein, the tip having an absorbent material therein to facilitate absorbing and retaining of expressed bodily fluid during use of the apparatus, the hollow tip having one end being coupled to the orifice, and the opposite end of the tip defining an inlet which is sufficiently large to encompass the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury; and

a perimeter portion of the inlet of the tip being provided with a flexible annular sealing member to facilitate sealing against skin adjacent the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury and expressing bodily fluid from the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury in and through the intermediate reservoir during utilization of the apparatus, the inlet of the tip being sufficiently large to at least partially receive an end portion of a digit of an individual, the flexible sealing member being permanently supported by a periphery of the inlet and extending radially inwardly from the periphery to a seal against a circumference of the end portion of the received digit;

the flexible sealing member having a passage with an inner circumference having a diameter small than a diameter of the inlet to achieve a fluid tight seal with the received digit, and the inner circumference being provided with an annular thickened area to facilitate insertion and removal of the received digit; and

the tip being provided with a cap for closing the inlet of the tip, and the cap is connected to the tip by a flexible tether member.

20. An apparatus for generating a negative pressure for expressing bodily fluid from a site of a sharp'"'"'s injury, the apparatus comprising:

a negative pressure apparatus having a hollow tip for encasing the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury and generating negative pressure in the tip to facilitate expressing bodily fluid from a site of a sharp'"'"'s injury;

the hollow tip defining an intermediate chamber therein, the hollow tip having one end being coupled to the negative pressure apparatus, and the opposite end of the tip defining an inlet which is sufficiently large to encompass the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury; and

a perimeter portion of the inlet of the tip being provided with a flexible annular sealing member to facilitate sealing against skin adjacent the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury and expressing bodily fluid from the site of the sharp'"'"'s injury in and through the intermediate reservoir during utilization of the apparatus, the inlet of the tip being sufficiently large to at least partially receive an end portion of a digit of an individual, and the flexible sealing member extends radially inwardly from a perimeter of the inlet to seal against a circumference of the end portion of the received digit.