AU719615B3 - A needle stick prevention guard - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Invention Title: OCCUPATIONAL MEDICAL INNOVATIONS LTD 091 192 871) Bruce Leigh KIEHNE CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 239 George Street, Brisbane, QId. 4000, Australia.

A NEEDLE STICK PREVENTION GUARD The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to us: A NEEDLE STICK PREVENTION GUARD This invention relates to a needle stick prevention guard which can be used with a blood draining vacuum catheter, syringe, or other similar device of the type which has a hollow needle extending from a collection container. The invention will be described with reference to its use on a blood draining vacuum catheter.

The dangers of needle stick are well known in the medical profession, and various devices are known which prevent injury from needle stick. Shrouds are known which extend over a syringe needle after use.

Blood draining vacuum catheters are known and consist of a tube which has an open mouth sealed with a silicone or other type of cap.

The tube is evacuated to provide a vacuum. In use, a catheter needle is inserted into a patient's body (for instance arm), and the other end of the needle is pushed through the silicone cap. The vacuum in the tube will suck blood or body fluid from the patient until the pressure is equalized. The end of the tube is covered by a cap-like container (see Figure 1) to which the needle is fitted. After use, the container with the attached needle is then removed from the patient's body.

When the needle is removed from the patient, there is a risk of needle stick. The larger needles cause substantial bleeding and a medical officer usually applies a swab to the wound area. This also increases the risk of needle stick.

The filled container contains the attached needle and the exposed needle provides an ever-present risk of needle stick injury, until the needle is removed.

There are disadvantages with providing a simple sleeve or shroud in an attempt to reduce needle stick injuries. One disadvantage with these simple devices is that while the sleeve or shroud can be moved between a retracted needle exposed position, and an extended needle shrouding position, there is the ever-present possibility that the shroud can be pushed entirely off the container body. Another disadvantage with existing shrouds or sleeves is that there is no simple and reliable mechanism to prevent the shroud from being pulled back to the retracted position to reexpose a contaminated needle.

The present invention is directed to a guard which can be attached to a blood draining vacuum catheter body, or a syringe body and which can be moved between a retracted needle exposed position and an extended needle protected position, and where a means is provided to prevent the guard from being inadvertently pushed off the catheter or syringe body, and where the guard can also be secured in the extended position against inadvertent retraction to re-expose a contaminated needle.

It is an object of the invention to provide a needle stick prevention guard which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a needle stick prevention guard for a blood draining vacuum catheter or syringe or other device having a hollow needle extending from a front wall of a collection container, the guard comprising a needle protecting shroud which is adapted to be supported by the container and which is moveable between a retracted position where the needle is exposed, and an extended position where the shroud extends over the needle, the guard having a front wall provided with a fixing member which is adapted to be fixed relative to the front wall of the container, the fixing member being attached to the remainder of the guard by at least one tear strip, whereby movement of the guard from the retracted position to the extended position causes the tear strip to tear away from the remainder of the guard, the tear strip providing a limit means to prevent the guard from being pushed off the container.

In a more particular form, the tear strip can function as a biasing means to bias the guard into locking engagement with the container when the guard is in the extended position, to prevent inadvertent retraction of the guard to re-expose a possibly contaminated needle.

The guard can be used on a blood draining vacuum catheter which has a hollow needle extending from the front wall of the container-like catheter body. It is envisaged that the guard can also be used to reduce needle stick injury on other devices of the type having a hollow needle extending from a front wall of a collection container. Such a device can include a syringe where the collection container is the barrel.

The guard has a needle protecting shroud. The shroud may comprise a tube having an internal configuration to enable it to slide along the outside wall of the container. As most containers catheter bodies and syringe bodies) are cylindrical, it is typical for the shroud to comprise a hollow cylindrical body.

The shroud is adapted to be supported by the container.

Typically, the shroud extends over the container body and is able to slide along the container body between its extended and its retracted position. In this embodiment, the shroud typically has an open rear end to allow it to fit over the container body.

The shroud is moveable between a retracted position where the needle is exposed, and an extended position where the needle is protected by the shroud. It is preferred that the shroud has a length which is sufficient to fully encapsulate or protect the needle when the shroud is in the extended position. Although it is envisaged that the shroud may be substantially longer than the needle, this may add to the manufacturing cost of the guard.

The guard has a front wall which is provided with a fixing member. The fixing member may comprise a boss, projection, shoulder, or like member. The fixing member is adapted to be fixed relative to the front wall of the container. In one form, the fixing member can be attached directly to the front wall of the container. In another form, the fixing member can be clamped or otherwise positioned relative to the front wall of the container, for instance via the hollow needle. Other types of fixing methods are also envisaged.

The fixing member, while forming part of the guard, is attached to the remainder of the guard by at least one tear strip. Preferably, a pair of tear strips are provided. The tear strips may form part of the shroud wall and may comprise strips which are connected to the remainder of the guard via frangible portions. The tear strip is typically elongate and extends at least partially, and preferably substantially along the shroud wall. The tear strip preferably has one end attached to the remainder of the guard in a nonremovable manner, and the other end attached to the fixing member in a nonremovable manner.

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which Figure 1 illustrates part of a blood draining vacuum catheter.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a guard according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 illustrates the guard attached over the vacuum catheter with the catheter needle (in its plastic protective housing) in the process of being attached.

Figure 4 illustrates the guard beginning its movement from the retracted position to the extended position and illustrating the tear strips beginning to tear away.

Figure 5 is a side section view with the guard in the extended position and illustrating the tear strips.

Figure 6 is a side view of an alternative embodiment with the guard in the retracted position.

Figure 7 is a view of the guard of Figure 6 in the extended position.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Figures 1 to 5, there is illustrated a needle stick preventing guard 10 which is formed of a single piece of moulded plastic which can be mass produced very inexpensively.

Guard 10 comprises a hollow cylindrical shroud 11 which has an open rear end 12 and a front end wall 13. In the embodiment of Figure 2, an extending tab 14 is provided to allow guard 10 to be pushed using a person's thumb.

Guard 10 can slide over the outer wall of a container 15 which forms part of a blood draining vacuum catheter. Container 15 has an open rear end 16 and a front end wall 17 provided with a boss 18 to which the catheter needle 19 is attached.

Container 15 sits over the top of a tube (not illustrated) which is capped with a silicone cap and where the tube has been evacuated. The needle 19 is inserted through boss 18 and pierces the cap to communicate with the interior of the tube. If the needle is inserted into a patient's body, the vacuum in the tube will draw out the patient's body fluid (for instance blood) until the pressure has been equalized. This arrangement is well known.

Referring to Figure 3, guard 10 sits over the top of container and is initially positioned such that the front end wall 13 of the guard is adjacent, or overlies the front end wall 17 of container 15. This is the retracted position of the guard and is illustrated in Figure 3.

The front end wall 13 of the guard is formed with a fixing member 20 in the form of a projecting boss 21 provided with a through passageway 22.

Needle 19 can pass through passageway 22 and be fixed to container 15 in the usual manner. Needle 19 has a shoulder or thickened portion 23 which is of a larger diameter than passageway 22. Thus, attachment of the needle to container 15 clamps the guard, via the fixing member 20 to the container by having fixing member 20 clamped between container 15 and needle 19.

Fixing member 20 is frangibly attached to the remainder of the guard via tear strips 23, 24. Tear strips 23, 24 form part of the shroud 11 and extend substantially along shroud 11 from the front end wall 13 to the rear end 12. Strips 23, 24 have side walls which are attached to shroud 11 via sections of reduced wall width which allows the strips 23, 24 to be torn away from the remainder of the shroud. However, each tear strip has a rear end which does not tear away from shroud 11, and each tear strip has a front end 26 which is firmly fixed to fixing member 20 and does not tear away from the fixing member.

Guard 10 can be manually pushed from its retracted needle exposed position illustrated in Figure 3 to its extended needle shrouding position illustrated in Figure 5. As the guard is pushed forwardly along container 15, the fixing member 20 is unable to move as it is trapped between container 15 and needle 19. Continued pushing of the guard will therefore cause strips 23, 24 to start tearing away from the wall of shroud 11 as illustrated in Figure 4. Continued pushing of the guard to its forward needle shrouding position will cause the tear strips 23, 24 to be progressively tomrn away from shroud 11.

The tear strips extend inside the shroud 11 as they are tomrn away (best illustrated in Figure 5) and adopt a bent configuration. The tear strips can therefore also function as a biasing means or spring to progressively squeeze shroud 11 against the outer wall of container 15 as the shroud moves along the container wall to its needle protecting position illustrated in Figure Shroud 11 is provided with an inner rear annular rib 27 (rib 27 may also comprise one or more discrete projections). Rib 27 travels along the outer wall of container 15 as the guard is being pushed to its extended needle protecting position, and when the guard is in its fully extended position, rib 27 will snap in front of front wall 17 of container 15 which prevents the guard from being retracted to re-expose a possibly contaminated needle.

Tear strips 23 provide a progressive biasing action to progressively squeeze shroud 11 against the outer wall of container Therefore by the time the guard is in the fully extended position, the tear strips have been more or less completely torn away and will quite strongly bias shroud against the outer wall of container 15. With this biasing action, as soon as rib 27 is free from the outer wall of container 15, it will be biased or squeezed to sit against the front wall of container 15 to prevent the guard from being retracted.

The biasing action provided by tear strips 23 is progressive which means that when the guard is in the retracted position illustrated in Figure 1, there is little or no biasing action, but as the guard is progressively moved to its extended position, and the tear strips are progressively torn away, the biasing action becomes greater. The reason for this is that if shroud 11 was tightly squeezed against the outside of container 15 when in the retracted position, it will be quite difficult to push the shroud forwardly.

8 Figures 6 and 7 illustrate the same idea, but where shroud 11 is of a slightly different design.

The tear strips 23, 24 are designed to have a length such that the strips also function to prevent the guard from being pushed off container 15. This is achieved by ensuring that the rear end of the tear strip is firmly attached to the shroud and the front end of the tear strip is firmly attached to fixing It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to the embodiment described without departing lo from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Claims (3)

1. A needle stick prevention guard for a blood draining vacuum catheter or syringe or other device having a hollow needle extending from a front wall of a collection container, the guard comprising a needle protecting shroud which is adapted to be supported by the container and which is moveable between a retracted position where the needle is exposed, and an extended position where the shroud extends over the needle, the guard having a front wall provided with a fixing member which is adapted to be fixed relative to the front wall of the container, the fixing member being attached to lo the remainder of the guard by at least one tear strip, whereby movement of the guard from the retracted position to the extended position causes the tear strip to tear away from the remainder of the guard, the tear strip providing a limit means to prevent the guard from being pushed off the container.

2. The guard of claim 1, wherein the tear strip functions as a biasing means to bais the guard into locking engagement with the container when in the extended position, to prevent retraction of the guard to re-expose the needle.

3. The guard of claim 1 or claim 2 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. DATED this 8th day of March 2000 OCCUPATIONAL MEDICAL INNOVATIONS LTD 091 192 871) By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.