WO2011146061A1

WO2011146061A1 - Gloves with visual indicator technology material

Info

Publication number: WO2011146061A1
Application number: PCT/US2010/035519
Authority: WO
Inventors: George Foley; Amanda Foley
Original assignee: George Foley; Amanda Foley
Priority date: 2010-05-20
Filing date: 2010-05-20
Publication date: 2011-11-24

Abstract

The disclosure provides a glove that is particularly suited for use by food service and health care professionals which contains a visual indicator material on an interior surface of the glove, which material is selected to provide a visual indicator to the wearer to remind the wearer to wash their hands to reduce contamination and/or spread of disease.

Description

GLOVES WITH VISUAL INDICATOR TECHNOLOGY MATERIAL

Background

[0001] The disclosure relates to medical gloves and, more specifically, medical gloves which, when removed from the hand of a wearer, provide a visual reminder to wash.

[0002] Gloves are worn by a variety of professionals to reduce or prevent contamination or the spread of disease. For example, health/ medical professionals (e.g., nurses, doctors, surgeons, dentists, emergency medical personnel, etc.) don gloves prior to examination of a patient to protect themselves and also to protect the patient from the spread of disease or infection. Food service workers don gloves prior to handling food items to minimize contamination.

[0003] According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 2.4 million Americans each year are affected by nosocomial infections, or hospital acquired infections (HAI). These infections result in approximately 100,000 deaths annually, making HAI the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, with an estimated cost of $5 to $10 billion annually to the U.S. health care budget. According the World Health Organization, HAI occur worldwide and affect hundreds of millions of patients globally every year. As an unintended result of seeking care, these infections lead to more serious illness, prolong hospital stays, and induce long-term disability. HAI can inflict unexpected high costs on patients and families and lead to a massive additional financial burden on the global health-care system, as well as contribute to unnecessary patient deaths.

[0004] To prevent the spread of infection or contamination, it is necessary for the individual to wash thoroughly or sterilize their hands after removing the gloves and before donning another pair. In particular, if the worker's hands are not clean or sterile, they can contaminate the box or other container of gloves when they obtain a new pair. Thus, as each subsequent pair of gloves is removed, the gloves can become contaminated. Therefore, it is useful to provide a visual reminder to the wearer to wash or sterilize their hands prior to donning another pair of gloves.

[0005] While health care workers play an important role in the care of patients, studies have shown that failure to comply with hand washing recommendations and techniques contribute significantly to the transmission of HAI. While there are numerous strategies and educational efforts in place to improve hand washing adherence in the health care setting, there remains an unmet need for an inexpensive, real-time method of visually ensuring compliance with these recommendations. A visual indicator technology (VIT) for hand washing would provide a reminder to the health care professional to wash their hands, and would also alert colleagues, patients and/or caregivers to individual compliance. This is in line with what is known as the Hawthorne Effect, a phenomenon where subjects improve or modify an aspect of their behavior in response to the knowledge that they are being observed.

[0006] Synthetic latex and natural rubber gloves are commonly fabricated by a process of first dipping a hand-shaped former, or mandrel, into a powdered coagulant bath, dipping the former into a latex or natural rubber bath, and finishing with a leaching and drying process. Frequently, gloves made by this process result in gloves that have a tendency to stick to the former after drying. Upon stripping the glove from the former, gloves fabricated by this process often tear and stick together. Such gloves are available with and without materials added to the interior of the gloves to improve donnability. Materials added to the interior of the glove to improve donnability can include powders (e.g., cornstarch or talc), specially formulated material coatings, or liquid lubricants. Processes for making medical gloves with improved donnability are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,378,137; 6,195,805; 6,019,922; 6,075,081; 5,674,818; 5,612,083; 5,570,475; 5,534,350; 5,284,607; 5,088,125; 4,597,108; 4,310,928 and 4,143,109 and EP 0486183, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0007] Gloves having an indicator to remind the wearer to change the glove are known from US Published Patent Application No. 2006/0059603. In addition, gloves having antiseptic coatings are known from US Published Patent Application Nos. 2005/0112180 and 2007/0116747. The disclosures of these three publications are incorporated herein by reference.

[0008] Despite the extensive body of art on gloves for use in medical or the food service industries, no prior art is know that addresses the issue of reminding the wearer to wash/ sterilize their hands after removing, or before donning another pair of gloves.

Summary Of The Disclosure

[0009] According to one embodiment, the disclosure provides a glove that leaves a visual reminder to the wearer to wash after removing, or before donning another pair of gloves. [00010] In another embodiment, the disclosure provides a natural or synthetic rubber glove having an interior surface and an exterior surface, wherein at least a portion of the interior surface contains a visual indicator technology material.

[00011] These and other embodiments will become apparent upon a further reading of the disclosure and the appended claims.

Brief Description Of The Drawing

[00012] Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a glove in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

[00013] Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of a glove in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

Detailed Description Of The Embodiments

[00014] The gloves may be made of any material known and used in the art, depending on the intended use of the glove. Particularly preferred are thermoplastic polymers. For example, polyvinyl chloride or nylon may be used for certain applications. In most medical use applications where a form fitting glove is generally desired, elastomers are the materials of choice. Although a variety of elastomers may be used for the gloves, including natural rubber latex, nitrile rubber latex, coagulable polyurethane aqueous dispersion, styrenic block copolymers such as styrene/butadiene/styrene or styrene/isoprene/styrene, and the like, natural rubber latex is preferred because it has superior properties and lower cost. For brevity and convenience, we will describe the process in the context of natural latex rubber gloves, recognizing that the modifications necessary to produce gloves of other common materials will be clear to the artisan.

[00015] The gloves may be made by any process known in the art. Conventional methods for preparing latex rubber gloves are described in a bulletin "Dipping With Natural Rubber Latex", The Malaysian Rubber Producers' Research Association, Hertford, England, 1980, and the disclosure of that bulletin is incorporated herein by reference. In order to provide reproducible latex layers on the former, a coagulant layer is first applied to the former, such as by spraying or, more preferably, by dipping the former into a coagulant composition. The coagulant may be of any composition well known in the art, such as alcohol solutions of calcium salts. The coagulant includes an acid soluble powder, such as calcium carbonate, which will facilitate stripping the glove from the form and will subsequently be dissolved in acid.

[00016] The coagulant-coated former is then dipped into latex, after which the latex layer gels.

Preferably, the gelled layer is leached in water to extract a large percentage of the water-soluble impurities in the latex and coagulant. An antiblocking composition with particles distributed throughout is then dip-coated over the latex. The term "blocking" refers to the tendency of glove surfaces to stick together. The antiblocking composition, which will be on the interior surface of the glove after stripping, keeps the interior surfaces of the glove from sticking together and making it difficult or impossible to get air and liquids into the fingers for post-strip processing. The antiblocking composition also serves as a binder to bind the particles to the rubber. It should have tensile strength, elongation, tear strength, and modulus that are comparable to that of the natural rubber.

[00017] Suitable antiblocking compositions include carboxylated styrene butadiene lattice, carboxylated butadiene acrylonitrile lattice, vinyl acrylate lattice, polyurethane aqueous dispersions, and the like. Polyurethane aqueous dispersion is preferred, because it provides the best combination of mechanical parameters. Especially preferred is a cationic polyurethane having a molecular weight of at least 100,000. Cationic compositions are found to provide desirably softer gloves than anionic or nonionic compositions. The high molecular weight ensures that blocking is complete. Suitable antiblocking compositions include Neorez polyurethane emulsions, such as Neorez XR-9208 (cationic) and Neorez R-962 and R-967 (nonionic/anionic), available from ICI Resins, Wilmington, Mass.

[00018] The particles dispersed through the antiblocking composition are larger than the thickness of the antiblocking layer and form protrusions on the inner surface of the glove (after stripping and reversal). The resulting roughened surface enhances the antiblocking effect and facilitates fluid flow into and out of the glove during post-stripping operations. The particles may be any of a variety of acid-resistant compositions, such as cross-linked cornstarch, polyurethane, nylon, or mixtures. A polyester based polyurethane powder is preferred. Such a powder is Vedoc VP180, available from Ferro Corp, Cleveland, Ohio. Also suitable are Corvel nylon powders, available from Morton Chemical Div., Reading, Pa.; and epichlorohydrin cross-linked cornstarch (Vulca 90), available from National Starch and Chemical Corp., Bridgewater, N.J. The particles should have a size in the range from about 5 to about 50 micrometers, preferably having an average particle size of about 30 to about 40 micrometers. Reference to size for purposes of this specification and claims is the diameter, if the particles are spherical, or the diameter of a sphere having the same volume, if the particles are not spherical. Additional facts regarding the particles are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,109, and that description is incorporated herein by reference.

[00019] After the antiblocking/particle layer has been deposited, the former with the 3 layers coated on it is heated to cure (i.e., cross-link) the rubber and to bond the rubber to the antiblocking layer. The cure time and temperature are known in the art and are not critical; however, if the temperature is too low, the rubber may be inadequately bonded to the antiblocking layer.

[00020] After the layers have been cured, it is typically in many instances to apply a solid or liquid material to the glove to facilitate donning of the finished glove. Silicon-containing compositions, cornstarch, talc and other materials are known in the art. Powders are not generally preferred for surgical gloves because the powders can contaminate the surgical environment, but would be suited for food service applications or as medical examination gloves, for example. Even if contamination is not an issue, many professionals dislike powder-coated gloves because the powders can cause irritation.

[00021] The fully-formed glove is then stripped from the form and reversed, so that the first layer is on the outside of the glove. For powder-free gloves, the glove may be treated with an acid to dissolve the acid-soluble powder(s). This acid treatment, which generally takes about five minutes, serves to dissolve loose powder to provide a powder-free glove. The acid treatment, as well as the other post-stripping operations (except for drying), may be performed in a conventional front-loading industrial washing machine, such as the UDY75 machine, available from Unimac Co., Inc., Marianna, Fla. The main criterion for an acid suitable for this step is that its calcium salt be water soluble (if the powder is calcium carbonate). Nitric acid is preferred, because all nitrates are water soluble. The preferred nitric acid concentration is in the range from about 0.5% to about 10%. If the acid is too concentrated, it can stain the glove; if it is too dilute, it may not dissolve all the powder. A 2% nitric acid solution is preferred. Before the acid wash, the glove is preferably "pre- washed" in a dilute acid (concentration less than about 1%). The source of the dilute acid may conveniently be spent acid collected from the acid wash cycle. [00022] The glove may then be rinsed in an aqueous liquid, e.g., water, and may then be treated with a chlorine compound to chlorinate the inner and outer glove surfaces and prevent blocking- e.g., lingers sticking together on a single glove or gloves sticking together when brought into contact. A suitable chlorine treatment is a bleach solution (such as 0.5% sodium hypochlorite in water). Care must be taken because some chlorine treatments can make the gloves excessively slippery, which can be detrimental for certain applications. The glove may then be rinsed with an aqueous liquid—water is again suitable—to remove any residue of the chlorine treatment, which could otherwise cause skin irritation. If desired, additional treatments can be applied to provide antiseptic properties, or facilitate donning, etc. The glove can then be dried in a conventional dryer.

[00023] With reference to Figure 1, an exemplary glove 10 is illustrated therein having a hand portion 12, a plurality of finger portions 14 and a cuff portion 16. The glove 10 has an exterior surface 18 and an interior surface 20. The interior surface 20 contains a visual indicator ("VIT") material, such as powder 22 as seen in Figure 1. The VIT material, however, does not need to be in powder form, but can be in any suitable form depending on the particular material selected.

[00024] The VIT material is any substance that leaves visual indicator on the hands of the wearer of the glove following removal of the glove. The visual indicator serves as a reminder to the wearer to wash their hands after removing the gloves and/or before donning another pair of gloves, and thus promotes good health and disease prevention practices. The VIT material should be a substance that is non-toxic and non-irritating. It is preferable that the VIT material not be removable from the hands simply by dry wiping or wet wiping alone. Instead, it is preferable that the VIT material not be removable except by washing with soap and water, an alcohol-based hand sterilizer, or other cleansing agent. Most preferably, the VIT material will be removable when the hands are washed in accordance with hand washing guidelines from the Center for Disease Control ("CDC") or other generally recognized standard. Under current CDC guidelines, the VIT material would require 20 to 30 seconds of vigorous washing with soap and water an alcohol-based hand sterilizer, or other cleansing agent before it is removed from the skin.

[00025] It is also preferable that the VIT material be readily visible against the skin of the user.

Accordingly, bold, vibrant or even neon colors (such as yellow, orange, bright green, etc) that are visible against a variety of skin tones are most preferred. Exemplary materials that can be used as the VIT material are the dyes, pigments and other colored materials that are approved for use in foods and cosmetics compositions.

[00026] The VIT material 22 is present on the interior surface 20 of the glove 10 such that it will transfer to the skin of the wearer when the glove is worn. The VIT material 22 may be applied over the entire interior surface 20 of the glove 10 or only on a portion of the interior surface 20. With reference to Figure 2, in the most preferred embodiment the glove 10 has one or more discrete indicator areas 24 that contain the VIT material. The discrete indicator 24 area can be of any desired size or shape, but is preferably positioned to be readily visible to the wearer, such as on the back of the hand where it will be seen as the wearer reaches for a new pair of gloves, door handle, food item, etc. In addition, the VIT material will be seen by the patient, customer and by the public, which will, as the public is educated regarding the VIT material, further enforce compliance with acceptable hand washing techniques. In this embodiment, it might be desired for the VIT material to be contained in a pouch on the interior surface 20 of the glove 10. Once the gloves are donned, the pouch can be ruptured to release the VIT material onto the skin of the wearer. In other embodiments, the pouch may be designed to rupture as the gloves are donned to release the material.

[00027] The embodiments described herein are preferred embodiments only are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. Instead, one skilled in the art will recognize various modifications and alternatives that can be employed to the described embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A glove comprising a hand portion, an exterior surface and an interior surface, wherein at least a portion of the interior surface contains a visual indicator technology material that will leave a visual indicator on skin when the glove is removed.

2. The glove of claim 1, wherein the glove further comprises a cuff portion.

3. The glove of claim 1, wherein the glove comprises a thermoplastic polymer.

4. The glove of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator technology material comprises a substance that is not readily removed from skin by dry wiping.

5. The glove of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator technology material comprises a substance that is not readily removed from the skin by wet wiping.

6. The glove of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator technology material is removable by washing with a cleansing agent for at least 20 seconds.

7. The glove of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator technology material is non-toxic.

8. The glove of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator technology material is non-irritating.

9. The glove of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator technology material comprises a colorant approved for use in foodstuffs or cosmetic compositions.

10. The glove of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator technology material is present over the entire interior surface of the glove.

11. The glove of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator technology material is contained within at least one discrete visual indicator region on the interior surface of the glove.

12. The glove of claim 11, wherein the at least one visual indicator region is located to leave the visual indicator technology material on the back of a hand of a user.

13. The glove of claim 11, wherein the at least one discrete visual indicator region comprises a pouch containing the visual indicator technology material therein. The glove of claim 13, wherein the pouch is configured to release the visual indicator technology material upon application of positive pressure.

The glove of claim 13, wherein the pouch is configured to release the visual indicator technology material upon donning the glove.