Abstract: A retractable and extendable medical needle protective shield which provides opportunity for accessing and reaccessing a medical needle and associated sharpened needle tip and recovering the needle and tip for safety between accesses. The shield includes a needle guide which assures the needle tip is untouched by any part of the shield as the shield is displaced to cover and uncover the needle. A releasible latch is provided to guard against inadvertent removal of the protective shield between accesses. An unreleasible latch is also provided to secure the shield relative to the latch preparatory to final disposal. In combination with the protective shield, a plurality of adapters are disclosed which provide examples of passively operated, protected access to membrane pierceable fluid sources such as a “Y” connection site of an IV set line, a drug vial, a vacuum sample tube, an umbilical cord holder and a hypodermic site.

Abstract: A one-time-use, self-powered, restricted entry lancet apparatus which provides a smaller incision in a surface or epidermal layers of a lancing site than in subsurface or dermal layers. Two embodiments of the invention are disclosed. Generally, each embodiment includes a housing, a blade component, a rotary spring and an actuator. The blade generally has a proximal portion and a distal section. The proximal portion is disposed within the housing and is displaced laterally in a first direction during a lancing procedure. During the lancing procedure, the distal section is extended from the housing through an open exit slot and is rotated about an abutment member of the exit slot to be laterally displaced in a direction opposite the first direction. This rotation about the abutment results in an incision pattern which has a smaller cut in the epidermis than in the dermis. Thus, surface trauma is reduced while a broad cut is made in capillary rich regions of the dermal layers.