Abstract: A needle shield assembly is provided for a needle cannula. The assembly includes a support sleeve, a stop collar and a needle shield. The support sleeve is rotatably mounted in a proximal position about the needle cannula. The stop collar is secured on the needle cannula distally from the support sleeve so that the stop collar traps the support sleeve in a proximal position on the needle cannula. The needle shield is hingedly mounted to the support sleeve for rotation between a first position where the needle shield protectively encloses the needle cannula and a second position where the support sleeve is angularly aligned to and spaced from the needle cannula. The hingedly connected needle shield and support sleeve can be rotated around the needle cannula.

Abstract: A needle stopper for use with a hypodermic syringe such as an arterial blood gas syringe includes a shell having a bottom, an open top and a needle-receiving chamber therebetween. The bottom is configured to support the needle stopper in an upright orientation. The needle-receiving chamber is dimensioned to receive needle cannula and to engage a needle hub connected to the cannula. The chamber is at least partly filled with a sealing material that can occlude the tip of a needle cannula. The upright orientation of the needle stopper enables one-handed insertion of the needle cannula into the needle-receiving chamber for occluding the needle tip. Engagement of the needle stopper with the needle hub enables safe and convenient separation of the needle hub and cannula from the syringe barrel for disposal. The tip of the syringe barrel then may be capped and sent to a laboratory for analysis of fluids therein.

Abstract: A syringe assembly having a non-reusable needle shield includes an elongate barrel having a chamber for retaining fluid, an open proximal end and a closed distal end. A tip extends from the distal end and includes a passageway therethrough in fluid communication with the chamber. A needle cannula extends distally from the tip. The cannula includes a lumen therethrough in fluid communication with the passageway. An elongate hollow needle shield having a longitudinal axis, a distal end and an open proximal end is positioned on the barrel tip so that the tip extends into the open proximal end of the shield and the shield covers the needle cannula. The needle shield is divided along the longitudinal axis into a plurality of separate needle shield segments. Frangible structure is provided for releasably holding the needle shield segments together and preventing removal of the needle shield from the syringe assembly.