WO1991016089A1

WO1991016089A1 - A device for disposing used syringe needles

Info

Publication number: WO1991016089A1
Application number: PCT/SE1991/000297
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anders Blomberg
Original assignee: Ab Västsvensk Medicinteknik
Priority date: 1990-04-26
Filing date: 1991-04-25
Publication date: 1991-10-31
Also published as: AU7850091A; SE9002225D0

Abstract

Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8), comprising a collection container (1). The invention is particularly characterized in that said collection container (1) is portable and presents means (7) for separating a needle (8) from a syringe (9) or similar. Said means (7) comprises an opening (11) provided in the collection container (1), the opening including a pierced hole (12) which permits the insertion of the widest part (13) of the needle (8), and at least a through-slot (14) in communication with said pierced hole (12) whose surrounding facing edge regions (16) provide resistance during removal of a needle (8) from one injection syringe (9) and during the unscrewing of a sample withdrawal needle (8) from a sample-withdrawal tube (25).

Description

Title: A device for disposing used syringe needles.

Technical field:

The present invention relates to a device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles for avoiding lancing injuries to medical personnel.

Background:

Lancing injuries within healthcare present an ever increasing problem for medical personnel. The freguency of lancing injuries is low in comparison to the number of injections and sample-withdrawals which are carried out, though the personnel who are affected now have considerably more serious risks of infection to fear.

HIV-infection and infections of all hepatitis-types have turned lancing injuries into a considerable problem. Bloodborne toxoplasma infections are also a reality for pregnant women with these injuries.

To prick oneself after injection/sample-withdrawal is thus a potential risk for HIV-infection. In the USA there are now 20 documented cases of HIV/Aids as a result of needle pricking of medical personnel, documented via so called O- sampling and subseguent sampling. The routines which are applied at, for example, Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg mean that the patient shall effectively always be HIV/Hepatitis tested after a lancing injury to the personnel. The cost to society is high since a work-related HIV- infection demands repeated sampling for up to six months. The psychological suffering, as well as being written off work, are costs which are hard to calculate, though which also have to be taken into account. It is not only HIV- infection which is potentially a lethal infection, but also Hepatitis-infection which can in the long term lead to irrepairable liver damage. This is well known and much feared amongst medical personnel.

The number of reported lancing injuries for the entire medical field in Gothenburg is unknown. During 1985, 20 reports where received and during 1988 300 reports were received on lancing injuries at work. During 1989 at the Medicinska Kliniken II at Sahlgrenska Hospital, one of the country's largest medical clinics, 18 reports of lancing injuries were received.

The injuries relating to injections are considerably more than the injuries during sample-withdrawal. For sample- withdrawal, there is an aid which is used to a restricted extent and which is seen to be unwieldy and, in acute situations, difficult to access.

It is usually the nurses who most often injure themselves, and most usually in the left hand, since injury usually arises when the needle is being inserted into its cover.

In clinics there can usually be found large stationary collection bins in which used needles are collected. In order to make safe the bins for further handling, the bin is often filled with a liguid plaster when the bin is full.

When the plaster sets, the needles are thereby totally encapsulated. The daily occurring and very frequent instance at work when the needle is being inserted into its cover after use still implies a feared risk moment. This arises since the needle cover is held in one hand whilst the sample-withdrawal needle is carefully introduced therein, which accordingly means that the needle-tip moves in the direction towards the fingers of the hand holding the cover.

Needles of a certain type are usually used during sample- withdrawal in which the needle is screwed into the remaining sample-withdrawal device. When the needle is to be removed, it must therefore be screwed from, for example, the sample-withdrawal tube, which is normally effected using a special tool, usually being of the unwieldy type as mentioned above.

Object of the invention:

It is the object of the present invention to provide a device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles intended to be carried by all personnel concerned and with the aid of which a used needle can be separated from, for example, an injection syringe and collected in the device without any finger contact at all from the side of the medical personnel. The device is light and easy to carry and, from a production point of view, particularly economical.

The above-mentioned object is achieved by means of the invention providing a device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles, which device is characterized in that the opening includes a pierced hole which permits the insertion of the widest part of the needle, and at least a through-slot in communication with said pierced hole whose surrounding facing edge regions provide resistance during removal of a needle from an injection syringe and during the unscrewing of a sample- withdrawal needle from a sample-withdrawal tube, and in that at least one flexible, elastically-returnable tongue is provided in said pierced hole, which tongue is dimensioned so as to permit the introduction of needles exteriorally and to close said pierced hole at least partially so that collected needles are prevented from exiting the collection container.

Brief description of the drawings:

The invention will be described in the following with reference to the attached drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows a situation leading to injury during a routine work phase;

Fig. 2 shows another situation leading to injury during a known work phase.

Fig. 3 shows an embodiment of a collection container according to the invention;

Fig. 4 shows the container according to the invention when it is being carried in a top pocket;

Fig. 5 schematically shows how a needle is introduced into the collection container;

Fig. 6, 7 show how a needle is separated from an and 8 injection syringe with the help of the invention; Fig. 9 shows a so called sample-withdrawal needle connected to a sample-withdrawal tube, only a part of which is shown for the sake of clarity.

Fig. 10 shows the container from above with a sectioned sample-withdrawal needle introduced into the slot of the opening;

Fig. 11 shows the container from above with a sectioned injection needle of the screw or bayonet-fixing type introduced into the space between the two tongue elements;

Fig. 12 shows in perspective how the sample-withdrawal tube is turned whilst the needle's flanges are abutted against the edge regions of the slot;

Fig. 13 shows how the sample-withdrawal needle finally drops into the container.

Description of embodiments:

The figure reference numeral 1 in Fig. 3 generally denotes a collection container according to the invention. In the shown embodiment the collection container 1 has an elongated cylindrical shape and is provided with an attachment member 2 for retaining the container 1 on an article of clothing 3 of the wearer (see Fig. 4) . In the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the attachment member 2 is in the form of a resilient clip 4 of metal or plastic, whereby the clip is of the known type which i.a. is used on pens. The collection container 1 is hereby intended to be easily carried in, for example, a top pocket 5 of said article of clothing 3. In the shown example, the clip 4 is integral with a cover portion 27, which is intended to shut a container portion 28 of the collection container 1. The cover portion 27 is, for example, made from a somewhat elastic material, such as plastic, and is provided with a downwardly projecting collar 29 which surrounds the opening edge of the container portion. The container portion 28 is, in the shown example, cylindrical with a flat bottom by means of which the container can be stood on a surface. The container portion's opposite end has an opening which is partially closed (see below) by the cover portion. The circumferentially extending edge of the opening is hereby provided with an edge bead. The cover portion is snapped in below this edge bead by means of the collar having an inwardly facing edge bead. In order to remove the cover portion, the clip is gripped with two fingers and the cover portion is pushed up with a lever action so that it is loosened and the container can be emptied and reused.

The collection container 1 further presents means 7 for separating a needle 8 from an injection syringe 9 or similar, as can clearly be seen from Fig. 5. Said means 7 is in the form of an opening 11 in the collection container 1. The opening 11 comprises a substantially triangularly shaped pierced hole 12 which permits the insertion of the widest part 13 of the needle 8. Two flexible, elastically returnable tongues 15 are provided in said pierced hole 12, whereby collected needles 8 are prevented from exiting the collection container 1. The tongues 15 are substantially triangularly shaped in such a way that the triangle's one side 17 is integrally connected with one of the sides 18 of the triangle of the pierced hole 12.

The opening 11 further includes a through-slot 14 in communication with said pierced hole. The slot's 14 surrounding facing edge regions 16 hereby provide resistance during removal of the needle 8 from the injection syringe, as can be clearly seen in Figs. 7-9. The facing edge regions 16 are hereby substantially parallel with each other.

The collection container 1 is suitably substantially made from plastic or metal.

The method of separating a needle 8 from an injection syringe 9 is clearly shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. The collection container is shown here in a schematic sectioned view and it can be seen that the needle 8, still affixed to the injection syringe 9, is inserted into the collection container 1 through the triangular pierced hole 12 (see Fig. 7) of the opening 11 so that the flexible tongues 15 are bent and pressed down by the widest part 13 of the needle 8. When the said part 13 of the needle 8 is inserted sufficiently far in, the tongues 15 elastically spring back to the starting position according to Fig. 7. The return springing of the tongues 15 hereby occurs in such a way that the injection syringe 9 and the needle 8 are simultaneously pushed sideways to the right in Fig. 7 along the slot 14 due to the spring effect. This favourable effect is due to the particular placing of the tongues 15 along the triangle sides 18 of the pierced hole 12. When the injection syringe 9 is thereafter pulled upwardly, the widest part 13 of the needle 8 is brought into contact with the surrounding edge regions 16 of the groove 14. The edge regions 16 hereby act as abutments and when the injection syringe 9 is further pulled upwardly, and/or lightly displaced to the right according to the arrow 22 in Fig. 8, the injection needle 8 is broken away from the injection syringe 9 and drops down into the collection container 1. Since the tongues 15 spring back to the starting position, the collected needles 8 are effectively prevented from exiting the collection container 1. A needle 8 for sample-withdrawal applications is shown in Fig. 9. At its attachment part 23, the sample-withdrawal needle 8 presents a threaded region 24, as can be seen from Fig. 12. The needle 8 in Fig. 9 is shown screwed to a sample-withdrawal tube 25. The attachment part 23 of the sample-withdrawal needle 8 is further provided with radially outwardly extending wings 26, which can be for example four in number. The wings 26 are used when the sample-withdrawal needle 8 is to be removed from the sample-withdrawal tube 25 after use by unscrewing. When unscrewing such sample-withdrawal needles 8, said needle 8 is inserted into the slot 14 of the collection container 1 so that the wings 26 of the attachment part 23 abut against the facing, substantially parallel edge regions 16 of the slot 14. This can clearly be seen from Figs. 10 and 11. Once the sample-withdrawal needle 8 is in this described position, the sample-withdrawal tube 25 is unscrewed via the threads 24. The tube 25 is thereafter moved across to the tongues 15 and pulled upwardly, whereby the needle 8 is loosened and collected in the container 1. The wings 26 serve in this instance as abutments for the unscrewing of the sample-withdrawal tube 25.

In the embodiment which is shown in Fig. 9, the gap between the two tongues 15 is used as a slot 19 to accommodate the type of injection needle 8 which is commonly used in, for example, USA and which is provided with a screw or bayonet attachment according to the above described sample- withdrawal needle 8 and also has corresponding wings. This type of injection needle has, however, smaller dimensions than said sample-withdrawal needle 8, and so unscrewing cannot take place in the slot 14. Since the gap between the tongues 15 is adapted so that such an injection needle 8 can be inserted therein according to Fig. 11, the needle 8 can thereafter be unscrewed in the same way as the sample- withdrawal needle 8 is unscrewed in the slot 14. In this way, the facing sides of the tongues 15 which form the slot 19 are substantially parallel according to that shown in Fig. 11, the object being to provide abutment for the unscrewing. In this respect, the tongues 15 are preferably somewhat angled downwardly towards the free ends 20 in such a way that the injection needle 8, after unscrewing, downwardly displaces the tongues without difficulty by a downward pressing movement so that the needles can finally be loosened and fall down into the collection container 1, the needle usually having a flange which means that it cannot drop down without the tongues being bent downwards.

The loosened needles or tips accordingly drop down into the container and cannot fall out, even if the container be turned. The opening should be, or is , so dimensioned so that no needle can pass through without a certain force being applied so that the tongues 15 are displaced. Furthermore, the container should have such a transverse size that the needles cannot turn about in the container, but instead remain with the tip pointed downwardly. Accordingly, no tip can ever project through the opening 11 and injure the user.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, but can be freely varied within the scope of the following claims.

Accordingly, the pierced hole 12, for example, can be shaped in a number of different ways, such as circular or rectangular. Furthermore, instead of the tongues 15, the collection container 1 can be provided with a closeable cover of known type for safe disposal of the needles 8. The slot 14 can be extended with a slot which forms a continuation of the gap between the tongues. In this extended slot, which is narrower than the slot at the opposite end, the above described needle 8 can be inserted for unscrewing and thereafter sidewardly displaced to the tongues where the needle is pulled off. Furthermore, the edges 16 can be chamfered with increasing edge thickness in a direction from the tongues 15 which simplifies detachment of the needles.

Claims

1. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) , comprising a collection container (1) which has means (7) for separating a needle (8) from an injection syringe (9) or similar, whereby said means (7) comprises an opening (11) provided in the collection container ( 1) , c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that said opening (11) includes a pierced hole (12) which permits the insertion of the widest part (13) of the needle (8) , and at least a through-slot (14) in communication with said pierced hole

(12) whose surrounding facing edge regions (16) provide resistance during removal of a needle (8) from an injection syringe (9) and during the unscrewing of a sample withdrawal-needle (8) from a sample-withdrawal tube (25) , and in that at least one flexible, elastically-returnable tongue (15) is provided in said pierced hole (12) , which tongue is so dimensioned as to permit the introduction of needles (8) exteriorally and to close said shaped hole at least partially so that collected needles (8) are prevented from exiting the collection container (1) .

2. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said pierced hole (12) is substantially triangular-shaped.

3. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the facing edge regions (16) of the slot (14) are substantially parallel to each other.

4. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said tongue (15) is two in number.

5. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the facing sides of the tongues (15) are principally parallel and form a slot (19) which provides resistance during unscrewing of a needle (8) from an injection syringe (9) and which has a width which is less than the needle's largest transverse dimension.

6. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the tongues (15) are angled downwardly at their free ends (20).

7. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the tongues (15) are substantially triangular-shaped in such a way that the one side (17) of the triangles are integrally connected to one of the triangular sides (18) of the pierced hole (12) .

8. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the facing sides of the tongues (15) form a slot (19) .

9. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said collection container (1) is principally of elongate cylindrical shape.

10. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said collection container (1) is provided with an attachment member (2) for affixing the container (1) to an article of clothing (3) of the wearer.

11. Device for collection and disposing of used injection, or sample-withdrawal, needles (8) according to the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said collection container (1) is arranged to be carried in a top-pocket (5) or similar in said article of clothing (3).

12. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the collection container (1) is dimensioned so as to maintain the needles (8) with their pointed end away from the opening (11) by means of the transverse size of the container being less than the shortest occurring length of the needles.