GB2585664A - Single use tourniquet for medical purposes - Google Patents

Abstract

A single use medical tourniquet comprises an oblong flexible plastic strap of constant width comprising a first section which serves as grip point, a second section comprising a peel away patch over a sticky adhesive patch and a third section serving as the tourniquet strap which terminates in a free end. An embossed cross line helps facilitate folding of the grip portion to the left or right and may be used to hold one end of the tourniquet as the other end is passed around the limb under tension and pressed against the sticky patch in use. The strap material may comprise layers of polyethylene, paper, adhesive and polypropylene. The straps may be produced on flat sheets or rolls. Such a tourniquet without a slot makes the need for a wider head redundant and enables the straps to be of a constant width and able to be produced with minimal material waste.

Description

Single Use Tourniquet for Medical Purposes As the medical world is getting more and more conscious of cleanliness and the need for avoiding bacterial and viral infections, the employment of single use medical tools and items is becoming widespread.

This has even moved into the area of tourniquets where infection possibilities used to largely be ignored simply because of their rarity. However, it was not really the infections that were rare but the recognition of the infection that was difficult.

Traditional medical tourniquets consisted of a multiple use strap of fabric with a clasp at one end and a free plain end which would be threaded through the clasp to fasten the strap around a limb of a patient.

Later improvements to be brought in were to make the strap elasticated so that the pressure which could be applied by the health professional could be augmented without noticeable increase in exertion by the operator.

Moreover, some straps are made from natural rubber latex. While those materials are in themselves perfectly adequate for the purpose of stemming the flow of blood in blood vessels, reports state that 6% of people have a natural latex allergy.

Hence the inventors applied themselves to finding material which is non-allergenic and thus could be used on anyone without having to take the precaution of asking the patient where or not s/he is allergic to such substances.

Now, many tourniquets need to be applied in emergencies, hence stressful situations, when time is of the essence. Whilst most of medical professionals are steady and calm in such situations, there is the possibility that pushing a strap through a clasp or opening can lead to what is commonly known as "butter fingers" and the time to apply the tourniquet ends up longer than optimal.

In effort to make single use tourniquets less expensive, the clasp was replaced by a slot through which the strap needs to be threaded and a patch of adhesive to hold it all in place To get around the need for threading a strap through an opening, the inventors have devised a simple and effective means of fastening the tourniquet.

Moreover, most previous single use tourniquets had a wider "head" in an effort to strengthen the strap around the slot. With no slot, the reason for the wider head was also removed and the straps could be produced on large sheets or rolls without any noticeable waste of material during separation into the individual tourniquet straps.

Figure 1 shows one known example of a single use tourniquet. It has a long strap of between 15 and 30 mm in width ending at one end in a wider section of a about 25 to 40 mm width.

This wider section, also known as the head ( I), is about 60 to 80 mm long and shows a tapered section (3) as the connection between said strap (5) and said head (1), which increases the strap with up to the head width. The whole tourniquet has a length of about 500 to 600 mm on average with shorter and longer ones available if required.

The head has a fairly broad slot cross-wise (2) for the free end (6) of the tourniquet to be threaded through. A peel-away patch (4), which exposes a sticky surface, is arranged just beyond the width transition part (3) for the free end (6) of the tourniquet to be pressed against to hold the tourniquet in place and under tension.

To achieve this tension, the strap is held at the head, it is wrapped around the limb and fed through the slot, tension is applied by pulling the strap at the head and its free end, which free end is, when the correct tension is achieved, pressed against the sticky patch to hold the tourniquet in place.

It is easy to see that this arrangement has its drawback. During application of the tourniquet, the user pulls at the weakest point of the strap (1), hence running the risk of it breaking or stretching at the slot (2) and necessitating a replacement with all the delay which may result from that.

The inventors realise that if they could do away with the slot, the need for a wider head would become redundant and they would remove a serious weak point at the same time.

This would bring a substantial saving in material as the straps could be produced immediately adjacent to each other and thus fitting three straps onto the same size material as would accommodate two straps as known from the prior art.

Since these single use items are produced and sold by the hundreds of thousands, a one in three material cost saving is not to be sniffed at, making the product a good deal cheaper.

Statement of the invention.

A single use medical tourniquet consisting of an oblong flexible plastic strap of constant width comprising three sections, a first section which serves an optional foldable grip point, a second section comprising a peel away patch and a third section serving as the tourniquet strap terminating in a free end.

Figure 2 shows the inventive tourniquet which is basically just a long oblong strap between 530 and 700 mm long and around 20 mm wide. Both the length and the width depend on the ultimate use of the tourniquet.

If the tourniquet is meant for large limbs, such as thighs, then it would be useful for it to be wider and longer. Longer so that it actually wraps around the limb comfortably and wider to give it the necessary strength to enable it being tightened to exert a useful pressure.

The inventive tourniquet consists of a flexible strap and is constituted of but not restricted to multiple layer construction of polyethylene, paper, adhesive and lastly a layer of polypropylene.

In use, the medical practitioner would take the open tourniquet by section 1 (the head) and choose whether to use the optional fold along the embossed line, as shown by a dotted line across the head. The fold on the head can be folded either left or right for left handed and right handed users. S/he would then peel off the strip in section 2, exposing the sticky patch. Section 4, the free end, is then brought around the object to which the tourniquet is to be applied, passed near the head section 1 and whilst applying tension is pressed against the sticky patch exposed on section 2.

The tourniquet is applied. No need for fiddling free ends through slots, no, or at least less, likely hood of the strap breaking during application and a substantial saving of material.

The dimensions given on the drawings and in the text are indicative only, and can vary according to the application of such tourniquets. Thus they may be longer than shown and wider and may be produced from different material, as long as that material has the required properties to render the product fit for its indicated purpose.

* *

Claims (6)

1. Claims 1. A single use medical tourniquet consisting of an oblong flexible plastic strap of constant width comprising three sections, a first section which serves as grip point, a second section comprising a peel away patch and a third section serving as the tourniquet strap terminating in a fourth section, which is a free end.
2. 2. A single use medical tourniquet according to claim 1 wherein said first section comprises a cross embossed part to facilitate a fold over of part of said first section, thus providing for an optimal grip.
3. 3. A single use medical tourniquet according to claims 1 and 2 wherein said second section is situated immediately adjacent to said first section comprising said peel-away layer, which when peeled away, exposes a sticky part and an indication of its purpose.
4. 4. A single use medical tourniquet according to claims 1 to 3 wherein said free end of said third section (section 4) is used to form a loop and brought to overlap with said second section where it is pressed onto said exposed sticky part, thus forming the tourniquet.
5. 5. A single use medical tourniquet according to claims 1 to 4 wherein the tourniquet is produced on flat sheets or rolls of varying different sizes.
6. 6. A single use medical tourniquet according to claim 1 wherein said flexible strap consists of a multiple layer construction of polyethylene, paper, adhesive and lastly a layer of polypropylene.******************