Abstract: The healing of wounds is enhanced by contacting the wound surfaces with a dressing of D-glucose polysaccharide obtained by hydrolysis of starch containing ascorbic acid, collagen type I and alpha-tocopherol acetate. The collagen type I, and the ascorbic acid in the dressing are the typical chemotactic agents of neutrophils, fibroblasts and/or endothelial cells. These combinations can be present in the dressing as a gel. The composition material can be applied to the wound as a particulate material such as a powder, or as material such as a gel, paste, dispersion, solution or syrup. Wounds, in particular those occurring in the skin as second and third degree burns, stasis ulcers, trophic lesions, such as decubitus ulcers, severe cuts and abrasions which are commonly resistant to the natural healing process, may be treated with this composition. The application of this combination to open wounds greatly accelerates the rate of healing and reduces scarring.

Abstract: A medication and method for treating wounds by contacting the wound, for a sufficient period of time, with a therapeutically effective amount of a starch hydrolysate composition including trace elements, to beneficiate the wound healing processes. A possible starch hydrolysate is maltodextrin and possible trace elements include, at least copper and zinc. The composition may also contain ascorbic acid as well as antibacterial and nutritive agents to promote formation and growth of granulation tissue.

Abstract: Disclosed is a health-care information management system that utilizes modular and reusable software objects to allow for user configuration. The disclosed information management system allows for the creation by the user software objects representative of specific events and resources which will occur or be utilized during the provision of health-care to patients. These user configured software modules then allow the user to track the provision of health-care, the utilization of resources during the provision of health-care, the allocation of resources to perform medical procedures and identify opportunities for enhancing efficiencies in the provision of health-care services. In on embodiment of the invention described, the system allows for the user to create, manage and maintain software modules representing specific clinical pathways to be performed in a health-care institution.

Abstract: A method for tracking medical supply usage on a procedure level in a clinical setting. The method includes the steps of creating at least one procedural template comprising a list of anticipated supplies to be used during a given medical procedure, creating a recordation form from a given procedure based upon the procedural template, the form including at least a partial listing of the anticipated supplies to be used during the procedure based upon the procedural template, recording on the form actual usage of supplies during the procedure, and storing the procedural template and actual usage information in a retrievable manner for the purposes of analysis.

Abstract: A suction canister particularly suitable for the collection of waste fluids from a medical patient including an open-top receptacle and a lid adapted to close the open-top of the receptacle. The receptacle and lid are each readily and inexpensively moldable from plastic materials employing existing molding techniques and facilities. The outer rim of the open top of the receptacle and the peripheral margin of the lid are adapted to provide engagement of the lid with the rim of the receptacle, such engagement providing a positive and readily identifiable limit of the extent of the engagement that provides a certain sealing of the id with the receptacle rim, and resulting in an interlocking of the lid with the receptacle as prevents removal of the lid from the receptacle other than by destructive force applied to the lid and/or receptacle.

Abstract: A heat pack including apparatus for triggering the crystallization of a supercooled salt solution in the heat pack, wherein the supercooled salt solution is sealed within a flexible package. The apparatus comprises a solid trigger device, and a packet having at least one wall. The solid trigger device and crystals of the salt of the supercooled salt solution are located in the packet and the packet is sealed to at least one of the walls of the flexible package. Thus, the packet is in intimate positional relationship with the supercooled salt solution. The solid trigger device is forced to pierce the packet and deliver salt crystals from the packet to the supercooled salt solution thereby triggering crystallization of the supercooled salt solution and producing heat.

Abstract: A bulb syringe providing for uniform, hence repeatable, deflation/inflation of the bulb and a tactile-discernible limit of deflation of the bulb and resultant control over the consistency of degree of suction produced with the deflated bulb is allowed to inflate in response to its resiliency and memory. The bulb syringe includes a bottom portion having a spout and a top portion whose resiliency is enhanced by a plurality of ribs. The top and bottom portions are provided with equatorial shoulders which are joined and which establish a tactile-discernible limit of deflation of the top portion. In one embodiment, the bottom portion is provided with a pair of lugs on the outer surface therefor for receipt of the palmar surfaces of two adjacent fingers of a user. Preferably, the syringe is transparent or at least sufficiently translucent as permits the visual inspection of any fluid contained therein.

Abstract: An absorbent article in the form of a closely-woven single-layered fabric sheet which has incorporated therein an elongated radiopaque thread embedded in multiple folds along at least one edge of the sheet. The radiopaque element preferably is unattached to the fabric, but rather is mechanically captured within a first fold that is further folded inwardly of and onto the top surface of the fabric sheet. The fabric sheet is woven of absorbent yarns and in a weave pattern which produces a tight weave such that the article is suitable for use as a drape in a surgical procedure, or in the nature of a laparotomy sponge. A method for the manufacture of the absorbent article is disclosed.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for visually depicting a health care treatment regimen for a given medical diagnosis including a substantially flat planar platform and a plurality of groupings of geometric members which are representative of various events which go to make up the treatment regimen. The geometric members of a particular grouping preferably are equally sized and of a coloring that is unique to the grouping. All geometric members are releasably securable to the platform and/or one another to permit their securement to the platform and/or to one another in positions denoting the existence of, position of and order of occurrence of their represented events within the treatment regimen.

Abstract: An assembly for attachment to a conventional operating room light fixture includes a handle and a disposable cover. The handle has an upper portion adapted to be attached to the light fixture. The handle further includes an annular rigid disk at a central portion thereof and an annular ring provided below the annular rigid handle flange and defining a groove therebetween. A grip portion is provided at a lower portion of the handle. The assembly also includes a sterile, disposable cover, including a hollow grip cover having a closed end and a flexible flange formed integrally with the grip cover at an open end thereof and adapted to be fitted over the grip portion of the handle and advanced thereon. The disposable cover further includes a circular rigid cover flange attached to the flexible flange and curved away from the rigid disk when the grip cover is fitted over the grip portion of the handle, with the rigid disk restraining further advancement of the rigid cover flange.

Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed which adapts the output signal of a thermocouple temperature sensor to be electrically the same as the output signal of a thermistor temperature sensor. The disclosed apparatus, which consists of a conversion circuit, a translation circuit, and an output control circuit, makes the thermocouple temperature sensor compatible with a temperature measuring instrument which is designed for use with a thermistor temperature sensor. The conversion circuit converts the small electrical voltage produced by a thermocouple temperature sensor into a substantial electrical voltage representing the temperature at the location of the thermocouple temperature sensor. The translation circuit translates the electrical voltage at the output of the conversion circuit into an analog electrical signal which is proportional to an electrical voltage that would exist across the terminals of a thermistor temperature sensor exposed to the same temperature as the thermocouple temperature sensor.

Abstract: A disposable case for deposing surgical blades includes a surgical blade removal device for removing a blade from a surgical knife handle. The case has an upper half and a bottom half connected by hinge means for allowing the upper half and the bottom half to be opened or closed, and also includes latches for securing the upper half and the bottom half together. Magnetic means are provided on the bottom half for retaining the blades thereon, with counting indicia provided thereon for designating and counting the blades that are to be disposed. A pad is provided on the outer surface of the upper half for receiving an adhesive tape, wherein the adhesive tape may be peeled from the pad and secured onto portions of the upper half and the bottom half to secure the case in a closed position.

Abstract: A woven absorbent article, useful in medical application, including at least one yarn-like radiopaque element extending along the length dimension and fully from one end to the opposite end of the absorbent article and having its opposite ends anchored to the absorbent article by means of multiple folds at each of the ends of the absorbent article. Preferably, the radiopaque element is incorporated into the woven article in the form of a warp yarn of the weave thereof. A method for the manufacture of the article is disclosed.

Abstract: A limb immobilizer including a soft foam body member in which there is embedded a system of reinforcing and stabilizing wire members, the body member being amenable to being readily conformed to the shape and size of a limb, and strapping means for securing the immobilizer in place on the limb. Opening through the thickness of the body member facilitate the application of the body member to a limb. A novel body member for a limb immobilizer is disclosed.

Abstract: A dispensing container for a plurality of like flat, thin products disposed in stacked relationship within the container and including a tear-away closure tab whose removal results in an opening through a front panel of the container through which the level of products within the container may be observed and individual ones of the products may be removed from the container. The opening is defined by a unique plurality of perforations and cuts through the thickness of the front panel of the container and has a profile resembling an inverted funnel. A blank for making the carton from a single sheet of material is disclosed.

Abstract: A method for integration of the institutional supply chain for medical products utilizing a nested bill of materials on a care event level of a clinical pathway for one or more medical procedures. The medical supplies appropriate for use in a care event are expressed as a bill of materials. Each item of medical supply is assigned a unique identifier which includes at least identification of the item itself, identification of the supplier of the item, and identification of the care event with which the item is to be used. At a first location a portion of the supplies are unitized and containerized. This subassembly is transported to a second and remote location where further of the supplies are unitized and containerized, using the same container. Thereafter the unitized and containerized supplies are transported to the end user thereof.

Abstract: The present invention provides a novel terminal for an end of a cable that includes at least two electrical conductors. One especially suitable cable is one that includes the common constantan and copper conductors employed in thermocouple applications. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the terminal includes first and second housing sections which, when combined, define an electrically insulative housing for the receipt and anchoring therein of one end of a cable without the use of fasteners of any type aside from the structural features of the housing sections. The first and second housing sections each comprise a thin planar base having a plurality of projections extending from one surface thereof that are received in frictional mating engagement when the two housing sections are joined.

Abstract: The specification discloses an alginate dressing comprising a fibrous alginate layer needle punched to a non-alginate backing web such that fibers from the alginate layer penetrate into and are interlocked with the backing web thereby affixing the alginate layer to the backing web. The dressing exhibits improved absorbency and long-term stability when used in the treatment of wounds. The dressing also eliminates the need for adhesives and secondary dressings for retaining an alginate fibrous dressing on a wound site.

Abstract: An ankle brace comprising a pair of elongated substantially compliant and substantially inextensible body members designed to reside generally vertically along the opposite sides of the ankle. The body members are connected to one another by a flexible strap that passes beneath the arch of the foot and generally vertically upwardly along opposite sides of the foot where the opposite free ends of the strap are releasably anchored to respective ones of the outer surfaces of the body members. The body members are mirror images of one another and are secured to the ankle as by various strapping. On the outer surface of each body member there is provided a malleable elongated stay which extends between the top and bottom of the body member. This stay is anchored to the body member at spaced apart locations along its length such that bending of the stay effects alteration of the cupping of the body member in the malleolus area thereof.

Abstract: An improved wound dressing composite is disclosed, having a membrane film wound dressing, a relatively stiff substantially planar carrier sheet with tabs, and a releasable cover. The film dressing has an upper surface, a lower adhesive surface and opposed side edges for application in a spread out disposition to a wound site with the lower surface adhered thereto. The film dressing, being relatively thin, is substantially unable to support itself in a planar configuration. The carrier sheet has an upper surface, a lower surface, and opposed edges. The carrier sheet is releasably adhered on its lower surface to the upper surface of the film dressing in supporting relation for supporting the film dressing in a planar configuration, with the side edges of the film dressing and carrier sheet generally aligned in close adjacency.