CA1147700A - Sponge collection device - Google Patents

Sponge collection device

Info

Publication number
CA1147700A
CA1147700A CA000392303A CA392303A CA1147700A CA 1147700 A CA1147700 A CA 1147700A CA 000392303 A CA000392303 A CA 000392303A CA 392303 A CA392303 A CA 392303A CA 1147700 A CA1147700 A CA 1147700A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
flap
backing sheet
side edges
pair
sponges
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000392303A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Donald Patience
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Kendall Co
Original Assignee
Kendall Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Kendall Co filed Critical Kendall Co
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1147700A publication Critical patent/CA1147700A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B50/00Containers, covers, furniture or holders specially adapted for surgical or diagnostic appliances or instruments, e.g. sterile covers
    • A61B50/30Containers specially adapted for packaging, protecting, dispensing, collecting or disposing of surgical or diagnostic appliances or instruments
    • A61B50/36Containers specially adapted for packaging, protecting, dispensing, collecting or disposing of surgical or diagnostic appliances or instruments for collecting or disposing of used articles
    • A61B50/37Containers specially adapted for packaging, protecting, dispensing, collecting or disposing of surgical or diagnostic appliances or instruments for collecting or disposing of used articles for absorbent articles, e.g. bandages, garments, swabs or towels
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B90/00Instruments, implements or accessories specially adapted for surgery or diagnosis and not covered by any of the groups A61B1/00 - A61B50/00, e.g. for luxation treatment or for protecting wound edges
    • A61B90/08Accessories or related features not otherwise provided for
    • A61B2090/0804Counting number of instruments used; Instrument detectors
    • YGENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10STECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10S206/00Special receptacle or package
    • Y10S206/806Suspension

Abstract

SPONGE COLLECTION DEVICE

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A sponge collection device comprising, a backing sheet of flexible material having a front surface, a rear surface, a pair of side edges, and a pair of end edges connecting the side edges. The device has a plurality of pockets progressively dis-posed on the front surface of the backing sheet intermediate the end edges. The pockets comprise a flap of flexible material having a pair of side edges, and an upper edge extending between the side edges, with side portions of the flap adjacent its side edges being joined to the backing sheet adjacent the side edges of the backing sheet. The upper edge of the flap defines an opening intermediate the flap and backing sheet to receive sponges, with a lower portion of the flap being joined to the backing sheet along a line intermediate the side portions of the flap. The joinder line extends upwardly from each of the flap side portions toward a raised central portion of the joinder line.

Description

~1477()0 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to collection devices for surgical sponges.
During surgical procedures, absorbent sponges are uti-lized to absorb body fluids around the site of the surgical incision. The sponges are normally provided in two sizes, a 4-inch by 4-inch smaller sponge, and a 14-inch by 14-inch larger laparotomy sponge. In the past, when the wetted sponges were removed from the patient's body, they have been placed in a kick bucket for retention during the surgical procedure. At the end of the surgical procedure, the sponges were removed from the kick bucket, and were sorted according to size, after which they were counted to assure that no sponges were left in the patient's body. According to convention, the 4-inch by 4-inch sponges were counted in groups of ten, and the 14-inch by 14-inch sponges were counted in groups of five.
It will be apparent that the prior sorting and count-ing procedure was tedious and time consuming, and could be sub-ject to error during the counting of sponges. A bag strip has been proposed in U.S. patent 3,749,237 in an attempt to facili-tate this procedure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A principal feature of the present invention is the provision of an improved sponge collection device of simplified construction.
The sponge collection device comprises, a backing sheet of flexible material having a front surface, a rear surface, a pair of side edges, and a pair of end edges connecting the side edges. The device has a plurality of pockets progressively dis--1- ~

~47 700 posed on the front surface of the backing sheet intermediate the end edges. The pockets comprise a flap of flexible material hav-ing a pair of side edges, and an upper edge extending between the side edges, with side portions of the flap adjacent its side edges being joined to the backing sheet adjacent the side edges of the backing sheet. The upper edge of the flap defines an opening intermediate the flap and backing sheet to receive sponges. The device has a lower portion of the flap being joined to the backing sheet along a line intermediate the side portions of the flap, with the joinder line extending upwardly from each of the flap side portions toward a raised central por-tion of the joinder line.
A feature of the present invention is that a pair of smaller sponges may be placed in the pocket on opposed sides of the pocket.
Another feature of the invention is that one larger sponge may be placed in each pocket, or a pair of larger sponges may be placed on opposed sides of the pocket.
Thus, a feature of the present invention is that the device collects either smaller or larger sponges in the pockets.
Still another feature of the invention is that the device facilitates retention of the soiled sponges during a sur-gical procedure.
Yet another feature of the invention is that the device facilitates counting of the sponges after the surgical procedure has been completed.
Further features will become more fully apparent in the following description of the embodiments of this invention and from the appended claims.

11~770~

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings:
Fig. 1 is a front plan view of the sponge collection device of the present invention showing the device as used for collecting smaller sponges;
Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substanti-ally as indicated along the line 2-2 of Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is a front plan view of the sponge collection device showing the device as used for collecting larger sponges.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
.
Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, there is shown a sponge collection device generally designated 10 comprising a backing sheet 12 of flexible material and a plurality of pockets 14 each comprising a flap 16 of flexible material joined to the backing sheet 12. The backing sheet 12 and flaps 16 may be con-structed from any suitable plastic material, such as polyethy-lene. The backing sheet 12 has a generally rectangular shape, and has a front surface 18, a rear surface 20, a pair of opposed side edges 22a and 22b, and a pair of opposed end edges 24a and 24b connecting the side edges 22a and b. The backing sheet 12 may have a pair of spaced openings 26 located adjacent the end edge 24a for suspending the device 10 from a suitable instrument received through the openings 26.
The flaps 16 have a pair of opposed side edges 28a ar:d 28b, a lower edge 30 e~tending between the side edges 28a and ~, and an upper edge 32 extending between the side edges 28a and b.
As shown, the side edges 28a and b of the flaps 16 are joined to the front surface 18 of the backing sheet 12 adjacent the side edges 22a and b of the backing sheet 12 by suitable means, such as by heat sealing. The upper edges 32 of the flaps 16 define associated openings 34 intermediate the flaps 16 and backing sheet 12 to receive soiled sponges in the pockets 14. Also, the pockets 14 are progressively disposed along the backing sheet 12 between the end edges 24a and b, with the upper edges 32 of lower flaps 16 being located adjacent the lower edges 30 of adjacent upper flaps 16. In a preferred form, the device 10 has five pockets 14 disposed along the backing sheet 12 for a pur-pose which will be described below.
As shown, lower portions 46 of the flaps 16 are joined to the backing sheet 12 along a line 48 extending between lower parts of the side edges 28a and b of the flaps 16. The joinder line 48 extends upwardly from each of the flap side edges 28a and b toward a raised central portion of the joinder line 48.
In a preferred form, the joinder lines 48 define the shape of a triangle, with the base 50 of the triangles extending along the lower edges 30 of the flaps 16 between the junctures of the join-der lines 48 and the side edges 28a and b of the flaps 16. Two sides 52a and 52b of the triangles extend from the side edges 28a and b toward an apex 54 of the triangles located generally centrally between the side edges 28a and b of the flaps 16, with the sides 52a and b being approximately of equal length. The joinder lines 48 separate each pocket 14 into a pair of compart-ments 38a and b to receive a pair of smaller sponges at loca-tions in the compartments 38a and b adjacent the juncture of thejoinder lines 48 and the flap side edges 28a and b. Alterna-tively, as shown in Fig. 3, one larger sponge may be placed in each of the pockets 14, with each larger sponge extending over the apex 54 and along the sides 52a and b of the triangles, or a pair of larger sponges may be placed on opposed sides of the pockets in a manner similar to the smaller sponges.

114'7700 In use, with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, the backing sheet 12 is suspended by a suitable instrument passing through the openings 26 of the backing sheet 12. During a surgical pro-cedure, smaller soiled sponges S may be placed in the pockets 14, with each smaller sponge S being located in one of the compart-ments 38a and b. Thus, during ccllection of smaller sponges S
by the device 10, two smaller sponges S are placed in each pocket 14 on opposed sides of the flap 16. Since five pockets 14 are located on each backing sheet 12, a total of ten smaller spongeC S may be collected in each of the devices 10 during the placement procedure. Thus, the device 10 serves to collect the soiled sponges S in the pockets 14, and automatically counts a total of ten smaller sponges S in each of the devices 10. How-ever, with reference to Fig. 3, when larger soiled sponges S' are removed from the patient's body, one larger sponge S' may be placed in each of the pockets 14, with opposed ends of the larger sponges S' being located in the opposed ccmpartments 38a and b of each pocket 14. Thus, the device 10 may also be uti-lized to collect larger sponges S', and since there are five pockets 14 located in each device 10, the device 10 collects and automatically counts five larger sponges S' in the pockets 14 of each device 10. Accordingly, the joinder line 48 divides the pockets 14 into the compartments 38a and b to permit selective placement of two smaller sponges S in each compartment 38a and b, or a larger sponge S' in each pocket 14. Thus, the soiled sponges may be separated into smaller and larger sponges during the collection and counting procedure in each of the devices 10.
The foregoing detailed description is given for clear-ness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

Claims (6)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A sponge collection device, comprising:
a backing sheet of flexible material having a front surface, a rear surface, a pair of side edges, and a pair of end edges connecting the side edges; and a plurality of pockets progressively disposed on the front surface of the backing sheet intermediate said end edges, said pockets comprising a flap of flexible material hav-ing a pair of side edges, and an upper edge extending between said side edges, with side portions of the flap adjacent its side edges being joined to the backing sheet adjacent the side edges of the backing sheet, with the upper edge of the flap defining an opening intermediate the flap and backing sheet to receive sponges, and with a lower portion of the flap being joined to the backing sheet along a line intermediate the side portions of the flap, said joinder line extending upwardly from each of the flap side portions toward a raised central portion of the joinder line.
2. The device of claim 1 wherein the joinder line defines the shape of a triangle with the base of the triangle extending between the juncture of the joinder line and the flap side portions, with two sides of the triangle extending along the joinder line, and with the apex of the triangle being located in the region of said central portion of the joinder line.
3. The device of claim 1 wherein the backing sheet is generally rectangular.
4. The device of claim 1 wherein the side portions of the flap comprise the side edges of the flap.
5. The device of claim 1 wherein the device has five flaps located progressively along the backing sheet.
6. The device of claim 1 including a pair of spaced openings adjacent an upper edge of the backing sheet.
CA000392303A 1981-03-18 1981-12-15 Sponge collection device Expired CA1147700A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US06/245,008 US4361231A (en) 1981-03-18 1981-03-18 Sponge collection device
US245,008 1981-03-18

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1147700A true CA1147700A (en) 1983-06-07

Family

ID=22924964

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000392303A Expired CA1147700A (en) 1981-03-18 1981-12-15 Sponge collection device

Country Status (2)

Country Link
US (1) US4361231A (en)
CA (1) CA1147700A (en)

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US4422548A (en) * 1982-01-18 1983-12-27 Ritmed Limited Surgical sponge counter and blood loss determination system
US4629070A (en) * 1985-04-26 1986-12-16 Roberg Paul J Holder for photographic film strips
CA1239379A (en) * 1987-06-15 1988-07-19 Raza Alikhan Container for packaging and counting surgical sponges
GB8722891D0 (en) * 1987-09-30 1987-11-04 Norman A F Surgical container
US4903837A (en) * 1988-08-16 1990-02-27 Kimberly-Clark Corporation Apparatus for dispensing and accounting absorbent surgical articles
US4889230A (en) * 1989-02-17 1989-12-26 Deroyal Industries Package of strung medical sponges
US4887715A (en) * 1989-04-03 1989-12-19 Ehob, Inc. Surgical gauze sponge manager
US4957203A (en) * 1989-12-20 1990-09-18 Gilchrist Jr William T Garment cover
US5022521A (en) * 1990-05-04 1991-06-11 Kane Beverly A Flexible medical implement utility pouch
US5048683A (en) * 1990-05-10 1991-09-17 The Kendall Company Sponge counter bag
US5429234A (en) * 1991-10-07 1995-07-04 Weist Industries Inc Operating room sponge-receiving bag strip
US5658077A (en) * 1995-03-14 1997-08-19 Hoftman; Moshe M. Sponge counting bag
US5445264A (en) * 1994-04-18 1995-08-29 Toyo Chemical Co., Ltd. Floppy disk accommodation device
US6998541B2 (en) * 1994-08-05 2006-02-14 Clearcount Medical Solutions, Inc. Automatic surgical sponge counter and blood loss determination system
US5650596A (en) * 1994-08-05 1997-07-22 Surgical Resources, L.L.C. Automatic surgical sponge counter and blood loss determination system
USD423344S (en) * 1998-12-25 2000-04-25 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Container for dry battery
US6622861B2 (en) 2000-02-18 2003-09-23 Jeffrey C. Brown Neuro-cottonoid dispensing device and system
US7252195B2 (en) * 2002-08-27 2007-08-07 Church & Dwight Co., Inc. Container with lid adapted to support a cleaning pad and packaging containing the same
US7764178B2 (en) 2003-03-03 2010-07-27 Veroscan, Inc. Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
US8063760B2 (en) 2003-03-03 2011-11-22 Veroscan, Inc. Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
US7893840B2 (en) 2003-03-03 2011-02-22 Veroscan, Inc. Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
US8542717B2 (en) 2003-03-03 2013-09-24 Veroscan, Inc. Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
US7541933B2 (en) * 2003-03-03 2009-06-02 Veroscan, Inc. Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
US7019650B2 (en) 2003-03-03 2006-03-28 Caducys, L.L.C. Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
US8174366B2 (en) 2003-03-03 2012-05-08 Veroscan, Inc. Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
US7671744B2 (en) * 2003-03-03 2010-03-02 Veroscan, Inc. Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
JP2007526586A (en) 2004-03-03 2007-09-13 ケイデュシィズ エル エル シィ Interrogation system using interrogators and the like
US7501948B2 (en) * 2004-09-29 2009-03-10 Lone Star Ip Holdings, Lp Interrogation system employing prior knowledge about an object to discern an identity thereof
WO2008033574A2 (en) 2006-09-13 2008-03-20 Clearcount Medical Solutions, Inc. Apparatus and methods for monitioring objects in a surgical field
US7755491B2 (en) 2007-08-13 2010-07-13 Veroscan, Inc. Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
GB201006807D0 (en) * 2010-04-23 2010-06-09 Westfield Medical Ltd Pouch
US9035774B2 (en) 2011-04-11 2015-05-19 Lone Star Ip Holdings, Lp Interrogator and system employing the same
US8704178B1 (en) 2013-03-15 2014-04-22 Surgitrac Corporation Container for surgical object and fluid monitoring system
US8963025B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2015-02-24 Surgitrac Corporation Surgical object and fluid monitoring system having highly sensitive and reliable detection of objects being placed in a container
US8692140B1 (en) 2013-03-15 2014-04-08 Surgitrac Corporation Surgical object and fluid monitoring system having highly sensitive and reliable detection of objects being placed in a container
US9347817B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2016-05-24 Surgitrac Corporation Surgical object and comprehensive fluid monitoring system having capability of mobile monitoring and having highly sensitive and reliable detection of objects being placed in a container
US10383697B2 (en) 2016-03-13 2019-08-20 Svetlana Karasina Surgical item counting station and method of use

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US4176746A (en) * 1978-07-10 1979-12-04 Arvey Corporation Gusset pouch with integral seal support and method of making same
US4234086A (en) * 1979-10-02 1980-11-18 Dorton Howard E Apparatus for handling soiled surgical sponges

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US4361231A (en) 1982-11-30

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