IV Placement Assist Device with Needle Sheathing Safety Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current IV placement methods are challenging for novice providers, leading to high failure rates and patient discomfort due to difficulties in stabilizing veins, angle of approach, and catheter advancement, especially in patients with dehydration, excess or thin skin, scarring, obesity, and edema, resulting in increased costs and pain.
Innovation Solution
A handheld IV placement assist device with a base, a fixed needle, a slidably integrated catheter advancer, and a movable component that engages operational safety features such as locks and needle rotation to stabilize and guide needle insertion and catheter advancement, preventing unintended motion and facilitating successful IV placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional manual IV insertion methods are used, then providers with high training and experience can achieve high success rates, but the time and cost required for training is excessive and novices struggle
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mechanical intermediary device (the IV insertion assist device with guide features, movable component, and safety mechanisms) that mediates between the provider's manual dexterity and the vein. This device provides physical guidance for needle angle and depth, stabilizes the catheter advancement, and prevents common errors, allowing novice providers to achieve expert-level success rates without extensive training.
2Ease of operation
If multiple IV insertion attempts are made due to difficulty in stabilizing veins and proper angle, then vascular access is eventually achieved, but vessel trauma increases and patient pain increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device performs preliminary actions to prevent errors before they occur. The guide features pre-set the optimal needle angle and depth, the movable component pre-positions the catheter assembly, and the safety mechanisms pre-prevent over-insertion. This preliminary structuring of the insertion process eliminates the need for multiple corrective attempts, reducing vessel trauma and patient pain.
3Speed
If the needle is advanced too far or at wrong angle, then insertion speed may increase, but the catheter fails to properly enter the vein or causes trauma
Solution Approach 1:
The device controls critical insertion parameters (needle angle, insertion depth, catheter advancement distance) through its mechanical structure. The guide features maintain the optimal angle parameter, the movable component controls the depth parameter, and the safety mechanisms limit maximum insertion depth. These parameter controls allow rapid insertion while maintaining high accuracy and preventing trauma.
4Measurement precision
If manual dexterity and steady hand are required for precise IV insertion, then experienced providers succeed, but novice providers with less control fail frequently
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the precision requirements from the human operator and embeds them in the device's mechanical structure. The guide features, movable component, and safety mechanisms physically enforce the correct angle, depth, and advancement distance, removing the need for the operator to manually control these parameters with steady hands and experience.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is a simple-to-use IV placement assist device with an added safety feature. A catheter advancer is slidably integrated with a base to guide advancement of a catheter linearly along the insertion path of the needle and catheter. A safety feature is engaged by a movable component moving from a first position to a second position, such movable enabling relative movement between the base and catheter advancer and/or catheter assembly, rotation of the needle about its length axis, and/or minor advancement of the catheter assembly to sheath the tip of the needle. The IV placement assist device stabilizes and guides the critical needle insertion and catheter advancement steps of a complication-prone and very common procedure.