Patent Application
20110010822
The present invention relates to medical gloves that can support, interface with, and/or receive a medical instrument as well as protect against the transmission of infectious agents from the user of the medical glove and/or the medical instrument.
In the medical field, transmission of infectious agents and other contaminants is an ongoing concern. This issue has once again been pushed to the forefront with the incidence of nosocomial infections and antibiotic-resistant organisms, such as methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
To address the spread of infectious diseases in health care settings, hospitals have adopted sets of guidelines and best practices. For example, hospitals have implemented a set of “Universal Precautions” published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) which includes precautions to minimize risk of infection with HIV by guarding against contact with blood and certain other bodily fluids known to carry HIV. Hospitals also have adopted “Body Substance Isolation,” which is the practice of isolating all bodily substances (e.g., blood, urine, feces, tears, etc.) of individuals undergoing medical treatment to reduce the chances of transmitting nosocomial infections. Body Substance Isolation is similar in nature to the Universal Precautions, but goes further in isolating other substances not currently known to carry HIV.
The Universal Precautions and Body Substance Isolation urge the use of non-porous protective covers such as gloves, masks, gowns, and protective eyewear to reduce the risk of exposure to potentially infectious material. Further, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) requires health care workers to wear gloves when they come in contact with patients. These precautions are predominantly effective in protecting against the spread of infectious agents from the patient-to-health care worker and from health care worker-to-patient. In addition, health care workers are required to dispose of medical gloves and to dispose of or sterilize instruments in between patients in order to address patient-to-patient transfer of infections agents. Despite these precautions, it has been found that health care workers are the primary cause for patient-to-patient transmission of nosocomial and antibiotic-resistant infections.
One reason for the transmission of contaminants is from medical instruments which may be contaminated by one patient and then be used on another patient and/or may be may be handled by a health care worker who in turn may contact another patient. One such example of a medical instrument is a stethoscope. Similar to other medical instruments, hospitals may recommend sterilization of the entire stethoscope in between each patient examination, for example, by wiping off the entire stethoscopes with a 70% alcohol solution. However, this practice is not followed with great enough frequency in between each patient, and it is rare that the entire stethoscope is adequately sterilized.
As an alternative to sterilization of the medical instrument, many different types of protective covers, shields, and bags for medical instruments have been developed to prevent medical instruments from coming into direct contact with patients. For example, inter alia, U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,023 to Lawton discloses an elastomeric disk shaped cover applied over the face of the stethoscope head; U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,368 to Plourde discloses a diaphragm shaped cover that is applied to the face of the stethoscope head; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,046 to Turner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,314 to Kendall et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,751 to Weckerle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,957 to Milam, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,568 to Kemper each involve the application of a loose fitting bag over a stethoscope head. However, all of these protective covers, shields, and bags have failed to gain acceptance for one reason or another, most often due to the additional effort required for application and removal, a lack of time, or simply general inconvenience.
Therefore, there is a need for a medical glove that can protect against the transmission of infectious agents from the user of the medical glove and/or the medical instrument that is effective, versatile, easy to apply, and convenient so that it will be used more frequently by health care workers.
According to exemplary embodiments, a medical glove can comprise a substantially non-porous and fluid impervious elastomeric material that can have a wall thickness of about 0.01 mm to 0.40 mm, a palm portion, adjoining finger portions, a webbing adjoining two of the finger portions that can support, interface with, and/or receive at least some of a medical instrument.
According to exemplary embodiments, the medical glove can be sized to tightly enclose a wearer's hand, guard against the transmission of infectious agents, and/or provide tactile sensitivity and dexterity.
According to exemplary embodiments, the webbing can include a flap that can form a medical instrument retaining pocket enclosure that can support, interface with, and/or receive at least some of the medical instrument.
According to exemplary embodiments, the medical instrument can be a stethoscope, speculum, endoscope, surgical light, tongue depressor, otoscope, ultrasound, sonography device, and/or auriscope.
According to exemplary embodiments, the finger portions can be adjoined by the webbing forming a single region for containing two or more fingers of the wearer and/or the webbing can extend between two distinct finger portions.
According to exemplary embodiments, the finger portions can include at least an index finger portion and a middle finger portion and the webbing can adjoin the index finger portion and the middle finger portion and/or the finger portions can include at least a thumb portion and an index finger portion, and the webbing can adjoin the thumb portion and the index finger portion.
According to exemplary embodiments, the medical glove can have a wall thickness of about 0.05 mm-0.20 mm and/or can be constructed of elastomeric material that can be latex, nitrile, vinyl, neoprene, polyisoprene, polyvinyl chloride polymer, and/or polyurethane.
According to exemplary embodiments, the medical glove can be an examination glove and/or a surgical glove. Further, according to exemplary embodiments, the webbing can provide acoustic transmissivity and/or support to a piece of medical instrument.
These and other features of this invention are described in, or are apparent from, the following detailed description of various exemplary embodiments of this invention.
Exemplary embodiments of this invention will be described with reference to the accompanying figures.
This invention is directed to a medical glove used to reduce spreading infectious agents by supporting, interfacing with, and/or receiving a medical instrument.
The medical glove may be comprised of an elastomeric material, such as latex, nitrile, vinyl, neoprene, polyisoprene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethane, or the like. The elastomeric material may also be a combination of materials. The elastomeric material should be substantially non-porous and impervious to bodily fluids to prevent the spread of infectious agents. Also, the medical glove can be acoustically transmissive so not to interfere with the accuracy and level of sound transmitted to a medical instrument.
The medical glove should be manufactured to the medical glove standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The standards include approved materials, Acceptable Quality Level (AQL), and minimum requirements for palm wall thickness, finger wall thickness, tensile strength, elongation, and modulus. The minimum requirements are generally higher for sterile surgical gloves than for examination gloves.
Referring to
In exemplary embodiments, the webbing 26 can extend between any other adjoining finger portions 24 and/or a webbing 26 can be formed to adjoin two of the finger portions 24. For example, referring to
In exemplary embodiments, referring to
The webbing 26 may extend from the base toward the tip of the finger portions 24. The webbing 26 may extend fully or partially toward the tip of the finger portions 24. When the finger portions 24 are separated apart, the webbing 26 can be stretched to provide a substantially smooth surface. This substantially smooth surface can be used for increased acoustic transmissivity and/or can reduce the transmission of infectious agents. When the finger portions 24 are brought close together, the webbing 26 can return to a contracted state.
The webbing 26 can be sized to support, interact, and/or a receiving a medical instrument and/or a portion of a medical instrument such as, but is not limited to, as stethoscope, speculum, endoscope, surgical light, tongue depressor, otoscope, auriscope, ultrasound, sonographic device, laryngoscope handle and blade, and/or any reasonable medical instrument. It will be understood that any medical instrument and/or portion of a medical instrument can be supported, interfaced with, and/or received by the medical glove disclosed herein without deviating from the scope of the invention. For ease, at times, not all forms of medical instruments are discussed rather only one or a few medical instruments such as a stethoscope, and/or stethoscope head and otoscope are discussed. This is merely for ease and is in no way meant to be a limitation.
The medical glove 10 can have a wall thickness sufficient to guard against rips and tears, while also remaining sufficiently thin to retain dexterity and/or feel. For example, the medical glove 10 may have a wall thickness between about 0.01 mm to 0.40 mm. As another example, glove 10 may have a wall thickness of about 0.05 mm to 0.20 mm. The minimum wall thickness permitted by the FDA is 0.05 mm for examination gloves and 0.10 mm for surgical gloves. The webbing 26, in particular, may be relatively thin when stretched to, for example, minimize distortion in the sound transmitted to a medical instrument.
The medical glove of the present invention can prevent a medical instrument and/or a portion of a medical instrument from coming in direct contact with a patient's skin, thereby providing protection against the transmission of infectious agents. Further, since medical gloves are required to be used by all health care workers, a medical glove that can also be used to protect a medical instrument and/or a portion of a medical instrument during examination of a patient may be used more frequently than other currently available methods protection because of its convenience.
The webbing 26 can be sized to support, interact, and/or receive a medical instrument. For example, referring to
The webbing 26 can also include a pocket or flap 28 to receive at least a portion of a medical instrument. For example, referring to
In use, a health care worker wearing the medical glove 10 can separate two of their fingers between which the webbing 26 is connected, for example, their index finger and middle finger as depicted in
Now that exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described in detail, various modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention is to be construed broadly and limited only by the appended claims, and not by the foregoing specification.
This patent application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/231,930, filed Sep. 8, 2008, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/004,578, filed Dec. 21, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12231930 | Sep 2008 | US |
| Child | 12889067 | US | |
| Parent | 12004578 | Dec 2007 | US |
| Child | 12231930 | US |
