Hollister, Inc.

Dansac A/s

Barry L Schneider

Thomas H Gilman

Eric D Ellingson

Mahmood Mohiuddin

Ronald S Botten

Paul O Kay

Werner E Engelmann

Michael F Sawers

Claudio Giori

Marvin E Jensen

George M Nowak

Joseph S Tokarz

Julie A Duncan

David V Beddow

Lynn M Kaczmarek

A patient identification bracelet is composed of a flexible strap and a clasp, the clasp being formed of thermoplastic material and having a base member fixed to one end portion of the strap and a hinged cover member projecting laterally from the strap when the clasp is open. Holding elements project from at least one of the opposable surfaces of the cover and base member for engaging and holding the opposite end portion of the strap when the clasp is closed, and a mating post and socket are provided for locking the clasp in its closed condition. The post and socket are constructed so that the clasp, if forced open, cannot be reclosed. A relatively weak portion of the strap, located between the end portion of the strap that is fixed to the clasp and the identification-receiving portion of the strap, and also located between the base and cover members when the clasp is closed, defines a break-away zone for the strap when pulling forces of predetermined magnitude are applied thereto.

Identification bracelet and clasp construction therefor

An adhesive wafer for an ostomy pouch, and the combination of such a wafer and pouch, in which the adhesive layer of the wafer is composed of a hydrocolloid-containing skin barrier material and is contoured to provide a relatively thick body portion surrounded by a relatively thin peripheral portion, are disclosed. The wafer has a stoma-receiving opening, and the adhesive layer is of developed shape so that most, if not all, of the relatively thick body portion is located immediately below and to the sides of the stoma-receiving opening. The relatively thin peripheral portion of the adhesive layer is preferably embossed to provide a pattern of discrete, non-connecting depressions separated and isolated from each other by flat-top ridges dimensioned and arranged so that a skin surface engaged by said embossed surface primarily contacts only such ridges.

Contoured adhesive wafer for ostomy appliance

An adhesive wafer, which is especially suitable for use as a faceplate for an ostomy appliance but may also be used as a wound dressing, has an adhesive layer of hydrocolloid-containing skin barrier material and a flexible backing layer extending over one surface of the adhesive layer. The opposite skin-contacting surface of the adhesive layer is embossed to provide a pattern of discrete, non-connecting depressions separated and isolated from each other by flat-topped ridges dimensioned and arranged so that a skin surface engaged by said embossed surface primarily contacts only such ridges.

Adhesive wafer with embossed skin-contacting surface

Ostomy appliance and contoured adhesive wafer therefor

A flush-interval indicator for soluble, toilet bowl discardable pouches is disclosed for indicating to a user, once the pouch is discarded in a toilet bowl, when a sufficient flush-interval has elapsed so that, when the toilet is then flushed, the pouch will quickly disintegrate without obstructing or impeding the flow of water and waste material through the discharge lines of the system. The flush-interval indicator comprises optically-distinguishable indicia printed or otherwise affixed to a display surface of a pouch and normally concealed by a water-soluble opaque layer. The opaque layer may take the form of an external panel secured to the pouch, or a water-soluble layer of the pouch itself which includes pigment to render it opaque and shield the indicator from view. In an alternate construction, a water-soluble external cover is secured to the pouch and fibers from the cover are heat sealed into the pouch's display surface to form a flush indicator that is relatively unreadable when the cover is dry. However, when the pouch is exposed to water, the cover dissolves or disperses, after a sufficient flush-interval has elapsed, to reveal the flush indicator formed from the embedded fibers.

Flush-interval indicator for soluble pouches

A flushable ostomy pouch having side walls composed of pH-sensitive material capable of dissolving when exposed to an aqueous fluid having a pH substantially above or below a neutral pH level, and containing a quantity of pH-modifying material to initiate dissolution of the pouch when it is discarded in the water of a toilet bowl, is disclosed. The pouch includes a pair of side walls and an external membrane that extends along at least one of the side walls to define a pocket adjacent to that side wall. A quantity of pH-modifying material is contained in the pocket which, when exposed to a generally pH-neutral fluid entering the pocket, is capable of changing the pH of the fluid in the pocket to a level above or below the neutral pH level. The external membrane is formed such that, when the pouch is discarded in a toilet bowl, it allows aqueous fluid to enter the pocket and contact or dissolve the pH-modifying material, thereby causing the fluid entering the pocket to attain a pH substantially above or below the neutral pH level and dissolve the pH-sensitive side wall adjacent to the membrane.

Flushable pH-sensitive ostomy pouch containing its own pH-modifier

A retention device, particularly useful for drainage tubes and the like, having a pad for adhesive attachment to a patient's skin at the exit/entry site for a post-surgical drainage tube. The device includes a retainer body secured to the pad and provided with a strap to be looped and tightened about the drainage tube for immobilizing that tube. A passage in the body receives the free end of the strap and a latching mechanism prevents retraction of the strap unless the sides of the body are squeezed towards each other to alter the configuration of the body's side and top walls and cause lateral disengagement of a restraining pawl from the ratchet teeth of the strap.

Retention device

A retention device, particularly useful for drainage tubes and the like, having a pad for adhesive attachment to a patient's skin at the exit/entry site for a post-surgical drainage tube. The device includes a retainer body secured to the pad and provided with a strap to be looped and tightened about the drainage tube for immobilizing that tube. A passage in the body receives the free end of the strap and a latching mechanism prevents retraction of the strap unless a pair of side flanges of the body are squeezed towards each other to alter the configuration of the body's top wall and cause upward disengagement of a restraining pawl from the ratchet teeth of the strap. In one form of the invention, the strap is oriented horizontally and the passage is spaced well above the pad so that the horizontal plane of the passage substantially bisects the loop along its axis, thereby allowing portions of the loop to be located above and below the entrance to the passage. In another embodiment, the strap is oriented in a vertical plane and the pawl is cammed laterally and upwardly to disengage the strap when the side flanges are squeezed towards each other.

A device for releasably retaining a drainage tube in place at its site of exit from a patient's body. The device includes a resilient, adhesive pad for attachment to a patient's skin and a flexible plastic retainer secured to the upper surface of the pad, the retainer including a mounting plate having an enlarged recess extending inwardly from its periphery and a flexible strap formed integrally with the plate and extending outwardly through the recess and beyond the periphery of the plate. The strap is Y-shaped in configuration with its diverging arms secured to the plate at points disposed on opposite sides of an opening formed in an upstanding wall of the plate. The tongue portion of the Y-shaped strap may be reversely turned and inserted through that opening from the direction of the spaced arms. A latching member on the opposite side of the wall has depending teeth which are engagable with teeth on the reversely-turned strap to secure the strap about a drainage tube.

Drainage tube retention device

Y connector for post-operative treatment in heating or cooling body part

Hermaphroditic coupling for anatomical thermal system

Y connector for arthroscopic surgery

A tube holding assembly particularly suitable for supporting a nasogastric feeding tube so that such a tube is not shifted accidentally out of position during use. The assembly includes a flexible nose pad adapted to be adhesively secured to a wearer's nose, a mounting pin projecting from a distal edge of the pad, and a pair of clamping jaws pivotally carried by the projecting end portion of the pin. The jaws have interdigitating tube-clamping plates disposed beneath the pin and a latching mechanism located in a readily viewable and accessible position above the pin.

Nasogastric tube holding device

A hermaphroditic coupling especially useful in an anatomical thermal system between the pad means and control unit thereof, the hermaphroditic coupling including a pair of parallel lumens with the coupling being divided into two units having identical hermaphroditic, engageable ends and with releasable latch means connecting the two elements of the hermaphroditic coupling.

Growing community of inventors

McHenry, IL, United States of America

Barry L Schneider