US3863631A

US3863631A - Method of applying and securing a needle

Info

Publication number: US3863631A
Application number: US297794A
Authority: US
Inventors: Brian E Baldwin
Original assignee: Affiliated Hospital Products Inc
Current assignee: Affiliated Hospital Products Inc
Priority date: 1970-06-02
Filing date: 1972-10-16
Publication date: 1975-02-04
Anticipated expiration: 1992-02-04
Also published as: US3885560A

Abstract

A needle assembly including a needle having a pointed end, the needle being removably secured to a flexible air breathable bandage which is folded, the needle extending from one corner thereof in the cross-folded form. The needle is provided with a flexible connecting tube and a connector for attachment to a user device. The flexible bandage forms a manipulable winged handle in the initial folded form, and serves to enable the insertion of the needle into a patient''s body, after which the bandage is unfolded and is adhered to the skin of the patient''s body, preferably by adhesion of a pressure sensitive adhesive surface on one face of the bandage. In the unfolded form the bandage covers the puncture site, and after needle use the needle may be removed while leaving the bandage in place, leaving the puncture site covered by the bandage.

Description

United States Patent [191 Baldwin 1 Feb. 4, 1975 [54] METHOD OF APPLYING AND SECURING A 3,463,152 8/1969 Sorenson l28/214.4 NEEDLE 3,589,361. 6/1971 Loper 128/2144 [75] lnventor: Brian E. Baldwin, Wilmette, 111. Primary Examiner Richard Gaudet [73] Assignee: Affiliated Hospital Products, Inc., St. Assistant Examinerl- C McGowan L i M Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Reginald F. Pippin, Jr.

[22] Filed: Oct. 16, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 297,794

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 42,713, June 2, 1970,

abandoned.

[52] U.S. Cl 128/214 R [51] Int. Cl A6lm 5/00 [58] Field of Search 128/82, 82.1, 2.06, 2.1 R, 128/133, 155, 172, 214 R, 214.4, 221, 314, 347-351, DIG. 4, DIG. 26, 214.2

[57] ABSTRACT A needle assembly including a needle having a pointed end, the'needle being removably secured to a flexible air breathable bandage which is folded, the needle extending from one corner thereof in the cross-folded form. The needle is provided with a flexible connecting tube and a connector for attachment to a user device. The flexible bandage forms a manipulable winged handle in the initial folded form, and serves to enable the insertion of the needle into a patients body, after which the bandage is unfolded and is adhered to the skin of the patients body, preferably by adhesion of a pressure sensitive adhesive surface on one face of the bandage. In the unfolded form the bandage covers the puncture site, and after needle use the needle may be removed while leaving the bandage in place, leaving the puncture site covered by the bandage.

13 Claims, 22 Drawing Figures PATENIEBFEM 3,863,631

7 SHEET BEUF 18 Ll LlIlIIIIIIIIIIVIIIIIIIIIII C l3 23h FIG. 3

PAI MIEBFE $863,631

SHEET CHUF 18 FIG, 5

- PATENTED EB ms sum as or 18 PAIENIEB E 3,863,631

SHEET C5 0F 18 FIG. 9

PATENTEU M915 I 7 3.863531 SHEET U7UF18 FIG. IO

PAIENIEU FEB 4:975

SHEET OBUF 18 FIG.

D 9 OF 1 8 *PMENIEB EB SHEET FIG.

' PATENTED EB SHEET lOflF 18 FIG. l3

PATENTEU FEB 4 I 75 SHEET MM 13 FIG. l4

.PAIENIEDFE 3.868.631

SHEEI 130F 18 PmEmsnFssmzs' 3.863.631

' SHEET lQUF18 FlG. I8 I PATENTED FEB Y4|975 SHEET 15 0F 18 FIG. l9

. PATENTED EB mm SHEET lBUF 18 FIG. 20

PATENTED 4W5 3,863,631

SHEET 18UF 18 METHOD OF APPLYING AND SECURING A NEEDLE This application is a division of copending applica tion Ser. No. 42,713, filed June 2, 1970, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a method of removably inserting and securing an attachable needle to a body member, and more particularly to a method of manually manipulably inserting a needle assembly into and attaching such to a patients body, such as for intravenous therapy or testing (using a hollow needle and fluid connection thereto), or for electrical signal.

In the art of intravenous therapy it is necessary to insert a needle into the vein ofa patient, and to retain the needle in place for an extended period of time, the time varying with the particular intravenous therapy or testing involved. It has been previously proposed and practiced to insert such intravenous needles manually into the vein, as by holding the needle or needle holder and puncturing the body, after which a strip of adhesive may be applied to the needle to hold such in place. This method requires the operator to have ready a strip of adhesive, and to thereupon apply the adhesive while holding the needle in place. While such is to some degree satisfactory, it has been found desirable to provide better methods and arrangements for needle insertion and attachment to the body.

One such prior arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,064,648, which includes a needle with a semi-flexible plastic wing section permanently connected to the needle and having weakened portions which enable the plastic wing sections to be elastically folded to form a manual handle. This device readily enables the manual insertion of the needle. The subsequent securing of the needle to the patients body is accomplished by the employment of a strip of adhesive tape which appears to be placed directly over the down-folded wings to cover the wings and adhere to a portion of the body adjacent the wings. This device does have the advantage of providing a handle for the hand of the operator, but has a number of distinct disadvantages, including the requirement for the additional securing tape to be added thereto to secure the needle assembly to the patients body. In addition, this needle assembly provides no self-contained portion for covering the puncture site, and this leaves it to the operator to decide whether to cover this site, although such in fact is desirable as an aid to prevention of contamination. The device also tends to prevent skin breathing in the zone over which the down-folded wings lie, as the wings are formed of solid or continuous plastic material. There are also distinct pressure points or zones at the edge junction of the wings with the secure surface, and this edge junction also forms a bacteria collection point inasmuch as the skin is depressed along this zone by the tape-down of the plastic wings to the patients skin. The device also requires the removal or release of the adhesive tape securing strip and the removal of the entire attachable needle assembly, including the needle and plastic wings, in order to remove the needle from the patient.

It is an object and feature of the present invention to provide method of inserting and attaching an attachable needle assembly manual manipulation, insertion and securing of the needle in place without touching the needle, and which utilizes a multi-use bandage which serves both as a manually manipulable handle 2 for needle insertion and as a needle securing bandage and site-covering bandage after insertion of the needle.

It is a further object and feature of the invention to provide a method of manually manipulable insertion of a needle into a body with a wing-forming self-adhering bandage and needle assembly and covering of the needle puncture site with the bandage, and if desired subsequently removing the needle without removal of the bandage from its covering of the needle puncture site, whereby the bandage can be left in place and continue to provide effective cover for the puncture site.

Still a further feature of the invention is the provision of a method of inserting and anchoring a needle in a patients body by employing a multipurpose bandage preconnected to the needle for enabling needle manipulation, insertion and anchoring and puncture site covermg.

Still other objects, features and attendant advantages will become apparent to one skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment constructed in accordance with the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one physical embodiment usable in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1, illustrating the device in an upsidedown position for clarity of illustration of certain parts.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal section view of FIG. 1 with a cover sheath added.

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded view of the unfolded arrangement of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 5 and 9-13 illustrate steps in the insertion and securing of the needle assembly to a patients arm.

FIGS. 6-8 illustrate optional pre-insertion manipulative steps.

FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate steps in removal of the needle from the patients arm while leaving the bandage in place.

FIGS. 16 and 17 are perspective views of a modification of the arrangement of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 18-20 illustrate steps in the securing of the modified arrangement of FIGS. 16 and 17 to a patients arm.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of a further embodiment usable according to the invention.

FIG. 22 is a partially exploded view of a further embodiment usable according to the invention.

Referring now in detail to the figures of the drawing, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, a bandage and needle assembly 11 is provided for use according to the invention, including a tubular needle 13 having a point 13a which may have a beveled point configuration or otherwise as may be desired, the needle being suitably connected at its rear end to a length of flexible tubing 15 to which is also attached a suitable connector 17 which may be employed for effectively connecting the needle 13 and flexible tubing 15 to a desired user device, such as a syringe, bottle, etc.

Needle 13 may be connected to flexible tubing 15 in any suit-able manner, as by frictional retention within the end of the tubing at the junction therebetween, as indicated more particularly in FIG. 3. The exposed portion of the needle 13 may be suitably protected against damage or premature contact, as by a tubular sheath cover C slidably removably fitted thereover as indicated in FIG. 3.

Claims

1. The method of applying and securing a needle and multiple folded bandage unit assembly to a body having a puncturable securing surface, comprising holding a portable and freely manually manipulable needle and folded bandage unit assembly having a needle section and a foLded bandage section by manually grasping said folded bandage portion thereof, puncturing and inserting said needle section into a body while manually grasping said folded bandage section, multiply unfolding said bandage section and adhesively removably adhering a pressure sensitive adhesive undersurface of said bandage section to said body by and during removal of a protective covering from said adhesive surface, to removably secure said needle section in place on said body, said removable adhesive securing of said bandage section to said body being effected during and by pulling on and effecting peeling-back removal of said protective covering while bringing said pressure-sensitive adhesive undersurface into pressurized self-adhering surface contact with said body.

2. The method according to claim 1, said removable adhesive securing of said bandage section to said body being effected during and by effecting peeling-back removal of said protective covering in a general direction having a component extending generally along the extent of the surface of said body.

3. The method according to claim 1, said unfolding including multiple unfolding of said bandage section in two directions transverse to one another.

4. The method according to claim 3, including effectively covering the peripheral zone extending about the puncture, by said multiple unfolding of said bandage section.

5. The method according to claim 3, and subsequently removing said needle section from said body while leaving said bandage section secured in effective covering relation about said puncture.

6. The method of applying and securing a needle and folded bandage to a body having a puncturable securing surface, comprising holding a portable and freely manually manipulable needle and folded bandage unit assembly having a needle section and a folded bandage section by manually grasping said folded bandage portion thereof, puncturing and inserting said needle section into a body while manually grasping said folded bandage section, unfolding said bandage section and adhesively removably adhering the undersurface of said bandage section to said body to removably secure said needle section in place on said body, and applying said bandage section over and laterally surrounding the puncture site of said needle section in covering relation while and by adhesively adhering said bandage section to said body.

7. The method of applying and securing a needle and folded adhesive bandage assembly to a body having a puncturable securing surface, comprising holding said needle and folded bandage assembly by manually grasping said folded bandage thereof, inserting said needle into a body while manually grasping said folded bandage, unfolding said bandage and adhesively removably adhering a pressure-sensitive adhesive securing surface of said bandage to said body in generally covering relation about the zone of insertion of said needle into said body by and through removal of a protective cover sheet from said adhesive surface, to removably secure said needle in place on said body, said removal of said protective cover sheet being effected by manually holding said assembly in place at the zone of said puncture while pulling on and peeling back an edge portion of said protective cover sheet and also exerting an adhering pressure component on the thus uncovered adhesive securing surface of said bandage to thereby effect substantially interdependent removal of said protective cover sheet and adhesive securing of said bandage to the adjacent facing surface of said body.

8. The method according to claim 7, said adhesive securing of said bandage on said body being effected by and during removal of said protective cover sheet from said bandage, said removal of said protective cover sheet being effected by pulling back on said edge portion in a direction having a component extending generally along the extent of the surface oF said body to which said adhesive surface of said bandage is to be adhered.

9. The method according to claim 7, said edge of said protective cover sheet being manually grasped in a zone adjacent said needle and peeled back in a direction extending away from said needle.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising applying said bandage over and laterally surrounding the puncture site of said needle in covering relation thereto while and by adhesively adhering said bandage to said body.

11. The method according to claim 7, said unfolding including opposite directional unfolding of foldedly opposed sections of said bandage.

12. The method according to claim 7, said unfolding including multiple unfolding of said bandage in two directions transverse to one another.

13. The method according to claim 7, and subsequently removing said needle section from said body while leaving said bandage section secured in effective covering relation about said puncture.