GB2200553A - Surgical dressings - Google Patents

Abstract

A dressing suitable for absorbing blood or other fluids after nasal operations comprises an absorbent portion and a harness which can be a single piece which passes around the head of a patient, or a pair of members which fit around a patient's ears. The absorbent portion can comprise a support member having a fluid permeable sleeve filled with sterile absorbent material, and at each end, an engagement member to engage corresponding engagement members on the harness.

Description

SURGICAL DRESSING This invention relates to a surgical dressing. More especially, this invention relates to an absorbent dressing of the type known as a bolster adapted to be worn below the nose of a patient.

After certain operations, for instance those carried out upon the nasal septum, it is known to apply an absorbent dressing, the bolster, below the nose of the patient to absorb blood and other fluids draining from the wound. Such a dressing consists of a relatively bulky and absorbent portion, and a harness portion, generally passing around the patient's head, for holding the absorbent portion in place.

Such dressings are generally made up by nursing staff as they are needed.

This wastes valuable tOme, and the hand made dressings exhibit certain disadvantages in fit, as well as being wasteful of materials.

The present invention provides a surgical dressing which comprises an absorbent portion and a harnessNportion, the absorbent portion comprising a fluid-permeable sleeve having a filling of sterile absorbent material and at each end a first engagement member for detachably engaging with a corresponding second engagement member of the harness portion, which harness portion comprises a single band adapted to pass around the head of a patient wearing the dressing and having said second engagement members at its respective ends.

The invention also provides a surgical dressing which comprises an absorbent portion and a harness portion, the absorbent portion comprising a fluid-permeable sleeve having a filling of sterile absorbent material and at each end a first engagement member for detachably engaging with a corresponding second engagement member on the harness portion, which harness portion comprises a pair of harness mambers, each having one of said second engagement members, and a loop adapted to fit around the ear of a patient.

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying Drawings, in which: Figures 1 to 3 are views of the head of a patient wearing a dressing in accordance with various embodiments of this invention; and Figures 4 to 6 are views on a larger scale of various embodiments of the absorbent portion of dressings in accordance with this invention.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 to 3 show diagrammatically the head 1 of a patient wearing certain preferred embodiments of a dressing according to the present invention. In Figure 1, the dressing comprises an absorbent portion 2 (which will be described in more detail below), and a harness portion 3 which comprises a single band, which can as desired be passed around the occiput, bending at the top of the ears, as shown in solid lines in Figure 1, or can be passed over the parietal regions, as shown in broken lines 31.

In another embodiment, as shown in Figure 2, the absorbent portion 2 is used in association with a pair of harness mtmbers 4, which each comprises a loop adapted to fit around the ear of a patient.

A further embodiment is shown in Figure 3. The absorbent portion 2 engages a harness portion comprising a band 5 adapted to pass around the occiput of a patient, with a pair of end Members 6, at an angle to the band 5 adapted to extend diagonally forwards and downwards from the temporal region of a patient to the ends of the absorbent portion 2.

The end members 6 can be fixed to the ends of the band 5, eg. by stitching on an adhesive. The band 5 can be formed from a stretchable elastic material or can be formed from a relatively non-stretchable material.

A suitable material is Elastoplast (Registered Trade Mark) in appropriate sizes, eg. from 2 cm. to 7 cm. Another suitable material is that sold as Elastic Web Blue Line or Red Line.

As indicated above the absorbent portion and harness portion are held together by first engagement members at the ends of the absorbent portion which detachably engage with corresponding second engagement members on the harness portion. These engagement members are conveniently the cooperating materials sold under the Registered Trade Mark VELCRO, but other forms of engagement members such as press fasteners can be employed if desired.

Various embodiments of the absorbent portion are shown in Figures 4 to 6 or the accompanying Drawings. In general the absorbent portion comprises an elongated support member 10 having at ends a pair of pieces of VELCRO 8,8' constituting the first engagement members. The support member 10 can be of such shape that it is substantially linear, ie. have a substantially straight median line, as shown in Figure 4.

Alternatively, as shown in Figure 5, the end portions carrying the VELCRO pieces 8,8' or other first engagement members, can be splayed upwards whereby the ~median lines of the ends of the support member lie at an obtuse angle to one another. In this way it is possible to achieve a better fit of the dressing with the face of person wearing it. The sleeve and support can constitute a single member, or can be made separately and fastened together, eg. by stitching or by means of an adhesive.

The absorbent portion comprises a fluid-permeable sleeve, having a filling of a sterile absorbent material. The sleeve may have any desired cross section, for instance it may be a rectangular sleeve 7, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, or it may be a rounded substantially cylindrical sleeve 9 as shown in Figure 6. The sleeve 7,9 can be of any suitable fluid-permeable material, such as bandage fabric, which may optionally have release properties. The sleeve itself can be produced by stitching flat bandage material, or it can be formed from tubular woven or knitted fabric, such as Kling or Tubegauze bandage material in appropriate sizes.

The filling may be of any suitable sterile absorbent material, such as gauze or lint, or other suitable absorbent material. One suitable material is Gauze 3elonet BP.

The harness portion 3 can be formed from a single piece of stretchable or non-stretchable material, or in an alternative embodiment, as described above, it can be formed with a stretchable or non-stretchable portion 5 fixed to end members 6.

It will be seen that because the harness portion may not be contaminated by blood and other fluids, it may be reused with a fresh absorbent portion when the dressing is changed. The dressing may also be produced in a plurality of sizes. eg. child's, small adult's and large adult's, the components of trie dressing being suitably adapted to head size, providing a neat, convenient, and rapidly changed dressing, compared with the often cumbersome and inconvenient dressings at present in use.

Claims (8)

1. A surgical dressing which comprises an absorbent portion and harness portion, the absorbent portion comprising a fluid-permeable sleeve having a filling of sterile absorbent material and at each end a first engagement member for detachably engaging with a corresponding second engagement member on the harness portion, which harness portion comprises a single band adapted to pass around the head of a patient wearing the dressing and having said second engagement members at its respective ends.

2. A surgical dressing which comprises an absorbent portion and a harness portion, the absorbent portion comprising a fluid-permeable sleeve having a filling of sterile absorbent material and at each end a first engagement member for detachably engaging with a corresponding second engagement member on the harness portion, which harness portion comprises a pair of harness members, each having one of said second engagement members, and a loop adapted to fit around the ear of a patient.

3. A surgical dressing as claimed in claim 1 wherein the harness portion has an elastic middle portion permanently fixed to respective end portions carrying said second engagement members.

4. A surgical dressing as claimed in claim 3 wherein the elastic middle portion is fixed at an angle to said end portions.

5. A surgical dressing as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said first and second engagement members comprise portions of material that adhere together when contacted with one another.

6. A surgical dressing as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the absorbent portion comprises said sleeve fixed to an elongated substantially linear support member.

7. A surgical dressing as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 wherein the absorbent portion comprises said sleeve fixed to an elongated support member having end portions at an angle to-one another.

8. A surgical dressing substantially as hereinbefore described with CLAIMS (cont.) reference to any Figure of the accompanying Drawings.