WO2004043262A1

WO2004043262A1 - Antimicrobian protective wrapper for stethoscope diaphragm

Info

Publication number: WO2004043262A1
Application number: PCT/BR2003/000112
Authority: WO
Inventors: José F. A. ROXO
Original assignee: Bhs Tecnologia Ltda
Priority date: 2002-11-13
Filing date: 2003-08-13
Publication date: 2004-05-27
Also published as: BR8202701Y1; AU2003250625A1; BR8202701U

Abstract

The present invention refers to an antimicrobial protective wrapper for stethoscope diaphragms, comprising a protective wrapper (1) provided with a frontal surface (2) and an back surface (3), being the latter provided with an opening (4) comprising a tab (7) and a cut-out (8) located over the edge of the opening (4) to facilitate to put and remove the protective wrapper (1) in a diaphragm (5), so to promote safe asepsis between diagnoses and improve the auscultation of high frequency noise.

Description

"ANTIMICROBIAN PROTECTIVE WRAPPER FOR STETHOSCOPE

DIAPHRAGM"

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention refers to a protective wrapper for stethoscope diaphragms that comprises a wrapper of flexible material provided with an end opening with a protuberant tab and a cut-out over the edge of said opening to help dress and undress the protective wrapper.

Said protective wrapper can also be optionally provided with antimicrobial agents coated on its external surface, so as to provide complete asepsis of that surface between uses.

More particularly, the present invention refers to a new conception for a protective wrapper for stethoscope diaphragms, providing users with practicity, safety and hygiene, since its handling is simple and microbes which can be transmitted from one patient to another can be eliminated. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are currently various means for protection of the stethoscope diaphragms which are used by doctors, nurses and students of these subjects. However, these protections present many inconveniences, since they require specific cleaning and disinfection processes, especially for the diaphragm, a part of the stethoscope directly in contact with patients and which, from a hygiene stand point, needs to be appropriately cleaned between uses.

However, since these processes take some time to be achieved, many professionals do not appropriately clean and disinfect the diaphragm, allowing the transmission of microbes between patients.

A kind of protection wrapper for stethoscope diaphragms is known and used by professionals in the health area, comprising a wrapper of flexible material. One can see, however, that this configuration presents various inconveniences to the professional at the time of putting on and removing this cap, providing difficult handling and resulting in bad accommodation of the wrapper over the diaphragm. In some cases, said wrong accommodation causes problems to the user during the use with patients, making it difficult to correctly auscultate heart beating of the patients, eventually leading to false diagnosis and eventually jeopardizing the health and life of patients.

Another inconvenience from this type of protective wrapper, due to handling difficulties, occurs at the time of putting it on, since the wrapper can break and inhibitingits use, obliging the professional to remove said damaged wrapper and substitute it for a new one without even using it. This undesired substitution brings costs to the professional, besides the time for this procedure being very significant for the professionals in the health area, when a few seconds can be important to recover and save lives.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an objective of the present invention to supply a protective wrapper for stethoscope diaphragms which, objectively and efficiently, solves all inconveniences mentioned above.

More specifically, the present invention deals with a protective wrapper provided with a frontal part and an end part, being the latter provided with an opening to introduce the diaphragm and a tab to help to put and remove the protective wrapper, so as to position it appropriately over the stethoscope diaphragm. Additionally, the opening edge is provided with a cut-out for said wrapper to be correctly positioned on the diaphragm, since there are stethoscope campanulas having a sound wave transmitting channel very near to the diaphragm.

Another important objective of the present invention is to facilitate to put and remove the wrapper in a simple and safe way, thus considerably reducing time to substitute said wrapper and consequently, the time taken by the professional in the cleaning procedure of the equipment.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a protective wrapper for stethoscope diaphragms which can be provided with antimicrobial agents on its frontal surface, so that the contact surface with patients eliminates microorganisms, such as virus, bacteria and fungi, thus allowing professionals in the health area to examine patients safely and efficiently.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The objectives, enhancements and effects of the protective wrapper for stethoscope diaphragms object of the present invention will be clear to the one skilled in the art from the detailed description below with reference to the attached schematic drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 shows a perspective end view of the protective wrapper for stethoscope diaphragms;

- Figure 2 shows a perspective frontal view of the protective wrapper for stethoscope diaphragms;

- Figure 3 shows an end view of the protective wrapper of the present invention;

- Figure 4 shows an end view of an alternative embodiment of the diaphragm protective wrapper of the present invention; - Figure 5 shows a schematic view of the protective wrapper positioned over the diaphragm of the stethoscope;

- Figure 6 shows a schematic view of a kind of stethoscope campanula commonly used in the health field.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION According to Figures 1 and 2, the present invention comprises a protective wrapper (1) provided with a frontal surface (2) and an back surface

(3), said back surface provided with an opening (4) for the introduction of the diaphragm (5) of the stethoscope campanula (6) (shown on Figure 5). The edge of said opening (4) has a circular format with a tab (7) to help to put and remove said protective wrapper (1), that is, to facilitate its handling.

The tab (7) which aids in the placement and removal of the protective wrapper may be of various alternative shapes, such as circular, rectangular, triangle or elliptical, but a half-moon format is preferentially used, since it is appropriate to enable the professional to handle the protective wrapper (1) more firmly and safely.

Said opening (4) also has a cut-out (8) on its edge to improve the accommodation of said protective wrapper (1) over the diaphragm (5), since some stethoscopes present a configuration in which the sound wave transmitter channel (9) is very near the diaphragm (5), making it difficult to accommodate conventional protective wrappers. Preferably, said cut-out (8) has a half-moon shape.

Figures 3 and 4 show two configurations for said opening (4) of the protective wrapper (1), on figure 3 one can see that the edge of the opening

(4) only comprises a layer of the same material used to manufacture the protective wrapper (1), with no kind of structural reinforcement. On Figure 4, one can see that said edge of the opening (4) is provided with a structural reinforcement (10) to increase the resistance of the protective wrapper (1) at the time of being dressed over the diaphragm (5). Said structural reinforcement (10) can be of any elastic material, but preferably of the same material of the protective wrapper (1), and thicker.

According to Figure 5, one can see said protective wrapper (1) disposed over the diaphragm (5) of a stethoscope campanula (6), tab (7) of said opening (4) protruding from the diaphragm (5), so that, to remove the protective wrapper, the professional pulls said tab (7), disengaging the protective wrapper

(1) from the diaphragm (5). In the same way, to put the protective wrapper (1) over the diaphragm (5), the professional engages the edge of the aperture (4) where the cut-out (8) is located, and then pulls the tab (7) towards the center of the diaphragm (5), so that the protective wrapper (1) is appropriately accommodated over said diaphragm (5), causing no wrinkling of the frontal surface (2). Figure 6 shows a kind of stethoscope campanula (6) much used by professionals in the health area, with whose configuration the sound wave transmitter channel (9) is located very near the diaphragm (5), in a configuration inhibiting the introduction of conventional protective wrappers, since the space between the sound channel transmitter channel (9) and the diaphragm (5) is too narrow. Therefore, referring to Figures 1 to 4 together with Figure 6, it is possible to verify that, due to the cut-out (8) provided on the edge of the opening (4) of the protective wrapper (1) object of the present invention, it is possible to introduce it over the diaphragm (5) not causing wrinkling on the frontal surface (2) and on the back surface (3), resulting in appropriate accommodation of the diaphragm (5) within the protective wrapper (1), consequently allowing the correct diagnosis of the patient being tested.

Besides the advantages and effects explained above, the protective wrapper object of the present invention provides more efficient auscultation, since it has the functionality of an auxiliary pellicle, increasing the low-frequency noise attenuation degree for the auscultation, thus allowing less active compression over the patient's skin to auscultate high frequency noise, also reducing the discomfort caused by the diaphragm material, generally cold for being of metal.

Claims

1. ANTIMICROBIAN PROTECTIVE WRAPPER FOR STETHOSCOPE DIAPHRAGM, which comprises a protective wrapper (1) provided with a frontal surface (2) and an back surface (3), the latter being provided with an opening (4) having a tab (7) and a cut-out (8) located over the edge of said opening (4).

2. ANTIMICROBIAN PROTECTIVE WRAPPER FOR STETHOSCOPE DIAPHRAGM of claim 1 , wherein the opening (4) located on the back surface (3) of said protective wrapper (1) is provided with a structural reinforcement (10) along the whole edge of said opening (4) except for the edge of said cut-out (8).

3. ANTIMICROBIAN PROTECTIVE WRAPPER FOR STETHOSCOPE DIAPHRAGM of claim 1 , wherein said tab (7) has a half- moon, triangular, circular, rectangular or elliptical shape.

4. ANTIMICROBIAN PROTECTIVE WRAPPER FOR

STETHOSCOPE DIAPHRAGM of claim 1, wherein said tab (7) has a half-moon shape.

5. ANTIMICROBIAN PROTECTIVE WRAPPER FOR STETHOSCOPE DIAPHRAGM of claim 1 , wherein said structural reinforcement (10) may be located internally or externally of the the edge of the opening (4).

6. ANTIMICROBIAN PROTECTIVE WRAPPER FOR STETHOSCOPE DIAPHRAGM of claim 1 , wherein said cut-out (8) has a half- moon shape.