Patent Application
20170007817
The present invention is directed generally to intravenous tubing caps, and, more particularly, to intravenous tubing caps that have a large grasping area and a slot for hanging the intravenous tubing cap on an IV pole or other hanging implement.
Intravenous (“IV”) therapy offers the fastest route to introduce fluid and medication into the body and thus has achieved near ubiquitous status in hospitals worldwide. All current IV systems employ the use of IV tubes which carry the medicine or fluid to a hypodermic needle or other implement for administering the medicine or fluid directly into the vein of a patient. To keep the IV tubes sterile between uses, current guidelines suggest placing a sterile cap in the end of the IV tube which protects the tip of the IV tube from potential contaminants.
However, IV caps currently in circulation around hospitals and health clinics carry a significant risk of contamination in the course of ordinary use. Existing IV caps are small in size with minimal surface to grasp the product during connection to a syringe or IV tubing. The small grasping area on the caps creates a risk the user will touch the sterile connection threads thus potentially contaminating the IV cap and/or tubing. Additionally, once the cap is connected, there is no means to hang the tubing to prevent it from coming in contact with the floor. If the user attempts to lay the tubing over the infusion pump it will most likely fall to the floor if the IV pole is moved. Once on the ground, the tubing will likely be stepped on or run over by medical equipment that can result in contamination and/or perforation of the tubing. Although invisible to the naked eye, bacteria and microbes on the contaminated tubing will most likely be touched when the user attempts to disconnect or reconnect the IV tubing at a later time.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for an IV cap that has a large grasping area to mitigate the risk that a user may touch the sterile plug, and that has an opening to allow the cap to be hung on an IV pole or other mount.
The present disclosure is directed to an IV cap that has a large grasping area and an opening to allow the cap to be hung on an IV pole or other mount. The IV cap, once opened from a sterile packaging will connect to a female threaded, luer lock IV component: most likely a form of IV tubing or syringe. The IV cap will plug the connected IV tubing or syringe, maintaining sterility within the tubing system. The feature of the perforated tab of the IV cap will allow the user to hang the cap loop on an IV pole wire or hook.
The ultimate purpose for the looped IV cap is to help reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections related to central or peripheral IV line contamination. The long, flat tab of the IV cap distal end to the male connection end creates a surface to grasp the cap during the connection process. This will maintain an appropriate distance between the sterile cap threads and the gloved or ungloved fingers of the user. In addition, once the cap is secured, the hole of the IV cap can be looped onto any IV pole hanging-wire or hook. Securing the IV tubing by the loop will prevent the tubing from ever coming in contact with ground or sterile field, especially during movement of the IV pole.
The various embodiments of the invention will be better understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings:
Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout, there is seen in
Similarly, hanging opening may be 1.3 cm long and 1 cm wide. In an alternate embodiment, hanging opening may be any dimension less than 1.5 cm long and 1 cm wide. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that opening 14 may be any dimension sufficient to hang IV tube cap 10 or 20 on an IV pole or other hanging implement, such as a hook.
As shown in
While various embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the scope of the present disclosure.
The above-described embodiments of the described subject matter can be implemented in any of numerous ways. For example, some embodiments may be implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof. When any aspect of an embodiment is implemented at least in part in software, the software code can be executed on any suitable processor or collection of processors, whether provided in a single device or computer or distributed among multiple devices/computers.
The claims should not be read as limited to the described order or elements unless stated to that effect. It should be understood that various changes in form and detail may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. All embodiments that come within the spirit and scope of the following claims and equivalents thereto are claimed.
