Medical supplies abstract
A medical supply such as an operating room towel, laparotomy sponge,
gauze pad, bandage, or swab with radio frequency detectable material
which eliminates the need for re-entry into a patent after operating
in situations where medical supplies are missing. The patent can
be easily scanned with a handheld scanner to determine if the medical
supply was accidentally left inside the patient. If no RF detectable
material is observed, unnecessary re-entry into the patient is prevented.
The radio frequency detectable material is incorporated into the
medical supply as a tag, in the handle, as a handle, stitched to
the medical supply, woven into the medical supply, or sewn into
a seam in the medical supply. An identifier on the medical supply
indicates that the medical supply is an RF detectable medical supply.
In addition to preventing unnecessary re-entry, scanning for RF
detectable material is much safer than scanning for x-ray detectable
material.
Medical supplies claims
1. A radio frequency detectable medical supply comprising; a piece
of medical supply; and at least one piece of radio frequency detectable
material connected to the medical supply, the radio frequency detectable
material allowing indication of the medical supply upon scanning.
2. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 1, the
medical supply comprising an operating room towel, a laparotomy
sponge, a pad, gauze, cotton, swab, or bandage.
3. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 1, the
radio frequency detectable material comprising a radio frequency
tag or a radio frequency identification tag.
4. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 1, wherein
the radio frequency detectable material is connected to the medical
supply by stitching.
5. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 1, wherein
the radio frequency detectable material is incorporated into a tag,
stitched to the medical supply, sewn into a seam of the medical
supply, incorporated in a handle of the medical supply, woven into
the medical supply, or is the handle of the medical supply.
6. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 4, whereby
the stitching uses a thread of a different color than a color of
the medical supply.
7. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 1, the
medical supply comprising cotton, synthetic material, gauze, foam,
sponge, or a combination of these.
8. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 1, the
radio frequency detectable material comprising shaped, coded, data,
numbered, or identifying characteristics to identify a scanned object
as a medical supply.
9. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 1 further
comprising: an identifier on the medical supply that indicates the
medical supply is a radio frequency detectable medical supply.
10. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 9, the
identifier comprising a label, thread, tag, marking, printing, number,
letter, shape, code, or color.
11. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 9, wherein
the identifier is visible.
12. A radio frequency detectable medical supply comprising; a piece
of medical supply; at least one piece of radio frequency detectable
material connected to the medical supply, the radio frequency detectable
material allowing indication of the medical supply upon scanning;
and an identifier on the medical supply that indicates the medical
supply is a radio frequency detectable medical supply.
13. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 12,
the medical supply comprising an operating room towel, a laparotomy
sponge, a pad, gauze, cotton, swab, or bandage.
14. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 12,
the radio frequency detectable material comprising a radio frequency
tag or a radio frequency identification tag.
15. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 12,
wherein the radio frequency detectable material is connected to
the medical supply by stitching or weaving.
16. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 12,
wherein the radio frequency detectable material is incorporated
into a tag, stitched to the medical supply, sewn into a seam of
the medical supply, woven into the medical supply, incorporated
in a handle of the medical supply, or is the handle of the medical
supply.
17. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 15,
whereby the stitching uses a thread of a different color than a
color of the medical supply.
18. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 12,
the medical supply comprising cotton, synthetic material, gauze,
foam, sponge, or a combination of these.
19. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 12,
the radio frequency detectable material comprising shaped, coded,
data, numbered, or identifying characteristics to identify a scanned
object as a medical supply.
20. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 12,
the identifier comprising a label, thread, tag, marking, printing,
number, letter, shape, code, or color.
21. The radio frequency detectable medical supply of claim 12,
wherein the identifier is visible.
Medical supplies description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to medical supplies. More
specifically, the present invention discloses radio frequency detectable
medical supplies such as operating towels, O.R. Towels, operating
room towels, laparotomy sponges, and gauze pads, which eliminate
the need for re-entry into a patient after operating, to search
for missing supplies in situations where supplies are, or may be,
missing.
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0004] Prior to operating, medical staff prepare the patient for
surgery by placing towels on the patient around the area to be operated
on. This area is commonly known as the incision area. These towels
are positioned so that they overlap and surround the area where
the opening will be. Additionally, the towels may be placed on trays,
and surgical tools can then be laid out on the towels.
[0005] The main purpose of the towels is to establish a clean and
sanitary working area during surgery, and to contain smaller amounts
of spilled or splashed blood. However, during the operation or surgery,
after the surgeon makes the incision, blood inevitably flows from
the patient. Unfortunately, in some situations, the blood flow is
substantial, and medical personnel often use the towels for other
than their intended purposes.
[0006] When this occurs, there is the possibility that the towel
is placed inside the body. Since the towel is drenched in blood,
it may become difficult to identify the towel. In some instances,
towels have been left inside the body of the patient. If the towels
are not noticed as missing, they can remain in the patient for some
time before causing enough discomfort that the patient seeks medical
help. This results in the patient having to undergo another surgery
to search the operation site for a missing towel, and remove the
towel if found.
[0007] However, it is currently extremely difficult to determine
if a towel was left inside the patient without re-entry into the
patient. As a result, patients may undergo unnecessary surgery for
other issues, when in reality the cause is a misplaced towel.
[0008] Furthermore, not only has the patient unnecessarily suffered,
but also medical personnel are thus susceptible to malpractice lawsuits
in these situations, which is extremely expensive.
[0009] Therefore, there is a need for an effective way of preventing
unnecessary re-entry into a patient after surgery to determine whether
medical supplies were left inside the patient, thereby eliminating
unnecessary patient suffering and reducing the risk of malpractice
lawsuits.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] To achieve these and other advantages and in order to overcome
the disadvantages of the conventional method in accordance with
the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein,
the present invention provides an absorbent medical supply with
radio frequency detectable material which eliminates the need for
re-entry into a patent after operating in situations where medical
supplies are missing or there is great patient distress following
surgery and a missing object may be suspected.
[0011] Utilizing the medical supply of the present invention, the
patient can easily be scanned by a scanner such as a handheld scanner
to determine whether medical supplies have been left inside the
patient after surgery. Upon scanning, the radio frequency ("RF")
detectable material can easily be observed by medical personnel
if a medical supply is still inside the patient. If no RF detectable
material is observed, unnecessary re-entry into the patient is prevented.
[0012] The medical supply of the present invention comprises towels,
operating room OR towels, swabs, bandages, laparotomy sponges, gauze,
gauze pads, gauze bandages, medical sponges, and medical bandages.
Each of these types of medical supplies is utilized during surgery
where the chance or risk is high of accidentally leaving a medical
supply inside of a patient.
[0013] Laparotomy sponges or Lap sponges are typically used to
absorb flowing blood or blood inside the body.
[0014] Towels are used to cover Gurneys or operating beds and also
provide a sterile site to lay sterilized instruments and operation
tools on. The towels provide a sterile splash covering to absorb
spilt or splashed blood, while also marking out an incision site.
They are not typically intended to soak up blood like gauze or a
lap sponge.
[0015] The present invention provides a medical supply that comprises
at least one piece of RF detectable material so that scanning will
indicate the presence of a medical supply.
[0016] The present invention also provides a medical supply that
comprises at least one piece of RF detectable material enclosed
in a hem of the medical supply material, woven into, ironed onto,
sewn into, adhered to, bonded to, or in anyway attached to the medical
supply, making manufacturing convenient and ensuring the RF detectable
material is not inadvertently separated from the medical supply.
[0017] The medical supply may be, for example, an operating room
towel or OR towel, a laparotomy or lap sponge, a pad, gauze, sponge,
swab, or bandage. The material of the medical supply can be comprised
of gauze, cotton, synthetic, foam, sponge, or a combination of these
materials.
[0018] The radio frequency detectable material is, for example,
a radio frequency tag or a radio frequency identification tag. Additionally,
the RF detectable material can be active or passive. Preferably,
the radio frequency detectable material is not sensitive to orientation.
In this way, the accuracy of reading is improved. If the RF detectable
material comprises a memory, the memory can be read only, write
once/read many, or write many/read many.
[0019] The radio frequency identification (RFID) tags comprise
an antenna or a plurality of antennas that permit them to receive
and respond to radio frequency queries from an RFID scanner or transceiver.
[0020] Passive RFID tags do not have their own power supply and
are powered by the electrical current induced in the antenna by
the incoming radio-frequency scan. This small amount of power is
sufficient for the tag to send a response to the scanner. Since
the passive tag does not have its own power supply, the size and
cost are reduced.
[0021] Active RFID tags comprise a power source such as a battery.
They also have longer ranges and larger memories for storing data
than passive tags.
[0022] The typical operating frequencies of the RF tags are low
frequency (about 100-500 KHz), high frequency (about 10-15 MHz),
ultra high frequency (about 860-960 MHz), and microwave (about 2.45
GHz). However, the operating frequency can be selected according
to requirements.
[0023] The RFID tag can comprise a unique code or identifier which
allows individual tags to be identified. This code can comprise,
for example, manufacturer data, hospital data, patient data, surgeon
data, serial number, etc.
[0024] The RF detectable material is incorporated into the medical
supply as a tag, stitched to the medical supply, sewn into a seam
of the medical supply, incorporated in a handle of the medical supply,
is the handle of the medical supply, or woven into the medical supply.
[0025] Furthermore, the medical supply may have an identifier that
indicates the medical supply is an RF detectable medical supply.
The identifier is a label, tag, marking, printing, number, letter,
shape, code, thread, or color. Typically, the identifier is visible
but is not required to be. For example, the thread used in stitching
can be a color to identify the RF detectable medical supply. Alternatively,
the color of the medical supply can be colored or marked in such
a way as to identify the medical supply as an RF detectable medical
supply.
[0026] These and other objectives of the present invention will
become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading
the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.
[0027] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description
and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended
to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0028] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further
understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute
a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments
of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain
the principles of the invention. In the drawings,
[0029] FIGS. 1A-D are drawings illustrating hemmed medical supplies
with radio frequency detectable material according to embodiments
of the present invention; and
[0030] FIGS. 2A-C are drawings illustrating medical supplies with
radio frequency detectable material according to embodiments of
the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0031] Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments
of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the
accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers
are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same
or like parts.
[0032] Refer to FIG. 1A, which is a drawing illustrating a hemmed
medical supply with radio frequency detectable material according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0033] As shown in FIG. 1A, the RF detectable medical supply 100
of the present invention comprises a medical supply 110, for example,
an OR towel, lap sponge, swab, bandage, or pad. The material of
the medical supply can comprise gauze, cotton, synthetic, foam,
sponge, or a combination of these materials. The material can be
single-ply or multi-ply and be dyed, or undyed and colored as desired.
[0034] In FIG. 1A, the medical supply 110 has at least one edge
of the medical supply 110 folded over and stitched to create a hem
120. In an embodiment of the present invention, three sides of the
medical supply 110 are hemmed; however, one, two, three, or all
four sides of the medical supply 110 can be hemmed or un-hemmed.
[0035] The thread 130 used for stitching the hem 120 is for example,
a synthetic thread. The color of the thread 130 can be the same
color as the medical supply 110. However, to add further advantages,
the color of the thread 130 can be a different color than the color
of the medical supply 110. This allows the medical supply 110 to
be easily identified as being RF detectable.
[0036] Prior to stitching or during stitching, a piece of RF detectable
material 140, for example an RFID tag, is placed inside the fold
in the fabric in order to be enclosed in the hem 120. The RF detectable
material 140 is a piece of material that is easily detectable upon
scanning. In embodiments of the present invention the RF detectable
material 140 is an RF tag, an RFID tag, or other material that can
be detected by RF scanning.
[0037] The length, size, attributes, capabilities, or amount of
RF material 140 is selectable depending on cost, effectiveness,
or convenience.
[0038] Refer to FIG. 1B, which is a drawing illustrating a hemmed
medical supply with radio frequency detectable material according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0039] Alternatively, the RF detectable material 140 is a piece
that is sewn inside the hem 120 or through which the hem stitching
130 is sewn. Exposing a portion of the RF detectable material 140
allows it to be seen without further identifying marks. Stitching
through the material 140 provides further adhesion of the RF detectable
material 140 to the medical supply 110.
[0040] Refer to FIG. 1C, which is a drawing illustrating a hemmed
medical supply with radio frequency detectable material according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0041] In another embodiment the RF detectable material 140 is
attached to the medical supply 110 in the form of a loop. The thread
130 used to stitch the hem 120 attaches the RF detectable material
140 to the medical supply 110. This has the advantage of providing
a means of hanging or grasping the medical supply 110, which adds
to the convenience of the medical supply.
[0042] Refer to FIG. 1D, which is a drawing illustrating a hemmed
medical supply with radio frequency detectable material according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0043] In another embodiment of the present invention, the RF detectable
material 140 is added to a loop 150 attached to the medical supply
110. The RF detectable material 140 can be enclosed in, sewn to,
attached to, or adhered to the loop 150. This allows the RF detectable
material 140 to be attached to the medical supply 110 at any time.
[0044] The RF detectable material can be shaped, coded, numbered,
or have identifying characteristics. In situations where other RF
detectable objects are intentionally placed inside a patient, the
unique characteristics of the RF detectable material easily identifies
the medical supply of the present invention. For example, the material
can have wording or coding such as a serial number that can be read
upon scanning.
[0045] Furthermore, multiple pieces of the RF detectable material
can be used to increase identification or detection. For example,
a piece of RF detectable material can be placed in several hems
or locations of the medical supply.
[0046] Additionally, the material can be a label or inside a label
attached to the medical supply. For example, a label with the manufacturer
or brand name of the medical supply can comprise RF detectable material.
This label indicates the medical supply maker and identifies the
medical supply as being RF detectable.
[0047] Alternatively, the RF detectable material may also be woven
into the medical supply as a line going through it, or in a manner
that is readily identifiable by scanning. For example, the RF detectable
material can be similar to a thread and stitched or woven into the
medical supply.
[0048] Some medical supplies are disposable but others are re-usable.
The medical supplies can be sterilized, for example by Gamma radiation
or steam, or used unsterilized. Furthermore, the medical supplies
can be colorized to indicate whether they are disposable, re-usable,
sterilized, or unsterilized.
[0049] Rather than enclosing the RF detectable material in the
hem, the material can be sewn, woven into or adhered to the medical
supply.
[0050] Refer to FIG. 2A, which is a drawing illustrating a medical
supply with radio frequency detectable material according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0051] Certain medical supplies are not hemmed as those illustrated
in FIGS. 1A-D. As shown in FIG. 2A, the RF detectable medical supply
200 of the present invention comprises an unhemmed medical supply
210 and an RF detectable material 240 connected to the medical supply
210 by an attaching means 230. For example, the RF detectable material
240 can be stitched by thread to the medical supply 240. However,
any other connecting means such as adhesive, bonding, or weaving
can be used. Additionally, the RF detectable material 240 can comprise
a label or be enclosed in a label or tag. This allows the medical
supply to be easily grasped by hospital personnel.
[0052] Refer to FIG. 2B, which is a drawing illustrating a medical
supply with radio frequency detectable material according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0053] In this embodiment of the present invention the RF detectable
material 240 is attached to the medical supply 210 by the connecting
means 230 in the shape of a loop. This allows the medical supply
210 to be easily grasped or hung.
[0054] Refer to FIG. 2C, which is a drawing illustrating a medical
supply with radio frequency detectable material according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0055] As shown in FIG. 2C, the RF detectable material 240 is attached
to, encased in, woven in, or adhered to, a loop 250 attached to
the medical supply 210. The loop 250 is attached to the medical
supply 210 by connecting means 230.
[0056] In use, the RF detectable material can be programmed at
the manufacturing facility. Prior to surgery medical personnel can
easily scan the RF detectable medical supplies to take an inventory
of the items that will be used during the operation. Since the RF
detectable material can also comprise unique identifiers, the individual
codes can be noted.
[0057] Alternatively, the RF detectable material can be programmed
at the hospital or medical facility. This is a simple procedure
and has the benefit of adding more flexibility in the type or kind
of code or data in the identifier. For example, a specific date,
surgeon, hospital, or patient could be identified by the code. Furthermore,
in cases where the medical supply can be sanitized and re-used,
the code could be re-written if appropriate.
[0058] After surgery or prior to closure of the incision in the
patient, medical personnel can quickly take an inventory to ensure
that all medical supplies are accounted for. If any are missing,
a quick scan of the patient using a scanner or transceiver can locate
the missing medical supplies. In this way, no medical supplies will
be inadvertently left inside the patient.
[0059] As described above, the present invention provides a medical
supply with RF detectable material which eliminates the need for
re-entry into a patient after operating in situations where medical
supplies are missing.
[0060] Utilizing the towel of the present invention, the patient
can easily be scanned to determine whether a medical supply has
been left inside the patient after surgery. Upon scanning, the RF
detectable material can easily be observed by medical personnel
if a towel is still inside the patient. If no RF detectable material
is observed, unnecessary re-entry into the patient is prevented
thereby reducing a patient's suffering and the risk of malpractice
lawsuits. Additionally, utilizing RF detectable material instead
of other detectable materials prevents unnecessary exposure to chemicals
or radiation such as x-ray radiation. This further enhances the
safety of the RF detectable medical supply of the present invention.
[0061] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various
modifications and variations can be made to the present invention
without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In
view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention
cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they
fall within the scope of the invention and its equivalent. |