Abstract: The present invention is a method and apparatus, in several embodiments, for providing protection in workplaces in which workers can be exposed to diseases and other contaminations from skin abrasions or punctures by contaminated objects. In its primary application it provides such protection at skin surfaces of healthcare patients into which needle electrodes have been inserted and, under certain conditions, can emerge. This bio-hazard occurs most often during patient-positioning when patients are unconscious due to anesthesia or other reasons. Protection is supplied in the first embodiment by a puncture-resistant head-covering; in the second by a pad that covers and secures needle electrodes, and; in a third as a tissue-penetrating, less hazardous stick-on electrode. The latter two embodiments have pressure-sensitive-adhesive coatings for adhesion to a patient's skin.

Abstract: The present invention is a method and apparatus, in several embodiments, for providing protection in workplaces in which workers can be exposed to diseases and other contaminations from skin abrasions or punctures by contaminated objects. In its primary application it provides such protection at skin surfaces of healthcare patients into which needle electrodes have been inserted and, under certain conditions, can emerge. This bio-hazard occurs most often during patient-positioning when patients are unconscious due to anesthesia or other reasons. Protection is supplied in the first embodiment by a puncture-resistant head-covering; in the second by a pad that covers and secures needle electrodes, and; in a third as a tissue-penetrating, less hazardous stick-on electrode. The latter two embodiments have pressure-sensitive-adhesive coatings for adhesion to a patient's skin.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a device for minimizing or preventing damages due to ischemia that can occur within supported or retracted dermal and/or subdermal living tissue, most particularly during surgical procedures, by one or a combination of several means including cyclically applying and reducing supporting or retracting pressure at each of at least two tissue sections into which the supported or retracted tissue is subdivided, bathing these tissue sections with gases and/or liquids such as oxygen and oxygenated blood, presenting low-pressure regions or partial vacuum to areas within these tissue-sections to stimulate bleeding to encourage blood perfusion, controlling the temperature of these tissue sections to forestall ischemic damage, and mechanically moving at least a portion of these tissue sections to stimulate blood perfusion with, for example, a vibrating mechanism.