Catheter Package With Tear Strip and Wick for Sterile Lubrication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing intermittent catheter packaging requires users to touch the catheter or handle liquid, posing challenges for those with limited dexterity and risking gel or liquid contact with hands or clothing, and does not ensure easy opening or maintain sterility.
Innovation Solution
A catheter package formed by wrapping a sheet material around the catheter with a tear strip that facilitates easy opening along a designated line, using a liquid-tight, gas-impermeable foil and a wick to activate hydrophilic coatings without direct liquid contact, ensuring sterility and ease of use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the catheter is packaged in a conventional manner requiring user contact to insert, then the catheter can be inserted into the urethra, but users with limited dexterity find it difficult to handle and there is risk of gel or liquid contact with hands or clothing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tear-strip as an intermediary element that allows users to open the package without directly touching the catheter. The tear-strip extends from one side of the package to the other, enabling users to grip and pull it to open the packaging, thereby eliminating the need for direct hand contact with the catheter itself and reducing contamination risk
2Ease of operation
If the package is made easy to open, then users can access the catheter quickly, but sterility may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The package is segmented into distinct functional zones: a sealed cavity containing the catheter, a tear-strip for opening, and a wick compartment separated by a liquid-impermeable barrier. The sealing members create distinct sealed regions that maintain sterility while the tear-strip provides an controlled access point that doesn't compromise the sealed cavity's integrity
Solution Approach 2:
The liquid-impermeable barrier acts as an intermediary that separates the liquid-containing wick compartment from the catheter-containing sealed cavity. This barrier allows the wick to be wetted with liquid while preventing direct contact between the liquid and the catheter, maintaining sterility while enabling hydrophilic coating activation
3Ease of operation
If liquid water or saline solution is used to activate hydrophilic coating, then the catheter surface becomes lubricious, but direct contact requires user manipulation that may cause gel or liquid to contact hands or clothing
Solution Approach 1:
The wick serves as an intermediary that transfers liquid from the liquid-impermeable barrier to the catheter's hydrophilic coating. The wick is positioned to contact the catheter and transfer liquid through capillary action, activating the hydrophilic coating without requiring direct user contact with liquid water or saline solution
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses capillary action through the wick to automatically transfer liquid to the catheter surface without requiring user manipulation. The liquid moves from the barrier through the wick to the catheter's hydrophilic coating self-regulatingly, eliminating the need for users to manually apply liquid and reducing the risk of liquid contact with hands or clothing
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution allows for easy, sterile, and safe access to the catheter, reducing the risk of contamination and improving usability for users with limited dexterity by providing a sealed package that opens along a predetermined line, maintaining the integrity of the lubricant and catheter until use.
Implementation Method 1
The wick is wetted with liquid prior to forming the sealed cavity to thereby transfer the liquid to the catheter through capillary action
Implementation Method 2
When the coating is activated by contact with liquid water or saline solution, it becomes slippery, creating a catheter surface that has an extremely low coefficient of friction. During the induction period, as the hydrophilic coating is activated (for example by soaking the catheter in liquid water or saline solution), the hydrophilic coating swells and causes the catheter surface to become lubricious
Data Source
AI summary
A catheter product package and method of forming same in which the package comprises a sheet material wrapped about the catheter product to form a package for the catheter product. The catheter product extends generally longitudinally within the package, and the sheet material extends from a point beyond the proximal end to a point beyond the distal end of the catheter product. The sheet material of the package is wrapped about the catheter product in a mariner defining confronting proximal end edges, confronting distal end edges, and confronting side edges. The confronting proximal end edges, distal end edges and side edges of the sheet material are joined by a seal after the sheet material is wrapped about the catheter product to define a sealed cavity. The sheet material has a tear strip affixed to it which causes the sheet material to tear along the tear strip to thereby cause the package to open along an intended opening line. A method of forming a package for a catheter product comprises the steps of providing a sheet material for the package and placing the catheter product on the sheet material. It also includes affixing a tear strip to the sheet material and wrapping the sheet material around the catheter product. Further, the method includes the step of sealing the sheet material to form a sealed cavity with the catheter product being disposed within the sealed cavity.