Surgical Clip Pack Attachment Mechanism for Sterile Field Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Surgical clips and refill packs are often lost or misplaced during procedures due to their small size, leading to increased costs and surgical delays as medical staff search for them, and contamination risks when not kept within the sterile field.
Innovation Solution
A surgical clip pack designed to attach to a surgical access device, featuring a storage compartment with receptacles for clips and a secure attachment mechanism, ensuring easy access and reducing the likelihood of clips being dropped or misplaced.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If clips are packaged in small refill packs, then the clips can be stored and transported efficiently, but the clips are easily lost or misplaced due to their small size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple clips into a single refill pack with a unified structure that includes a body, lid, and integrated retention features. This merging approach maintains storage efficiency while preventing loss through the common structure's retention mechanisms such as flanges and grooves that secure clips in place.
Solution Approach 2:
The refill pack employs a nested structure where clips are housed within compartments inside the pack body. The clips are nested within the pack, which itself can be nested within or attached to the surgical access device, creating multiple levels of containment that prevent loss while maintaining compact storage.
2Ease of operation
If refill packs are kept outside the sterile field, then they are easily accessible, but contamination risks increase when clips are handled
Solution Approach 1:
The refill pack acts as an intermediary sterile container that can be positioned at the boundary between sterile and non-sterile fields. The pack's sealed structure with integrated lid and flange mechanisms allows it to maintain sterility while being accessible, serving as a mediator that eliminates the need to handle individual clips outside the sterile field.
Solution Approach 2:
The refill pack is designed with multi-functionality to serve both as a storage container and as a sterile barrier. It can be attached to the surgical access device to provide clips directly at the surgical site, or kept separately as a sterile reservoir, adapting to different surgical workflow needs while maintaining contamination prevention.
3Device complexity
If a single fire clip applier is used, then the application process is simple, but the applier must be removed to reload with new clips causing surgical delays
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the refill pack with the surgical access device through attachment mechanisms such as flanges, grooves, and tabs. This integration allows the clip applier to be reloaded with clips from the refill pack without removing the applier from the surgical site, combining the simplicity of single-fire application with continuous clip availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The refill pack is prepared in advance with multiple clips loaded and secured in ready-to-use positions. The pack can be pre-attached to the surgical access device or kept immediately accessible, so that when the clip applier needs reloading, clips are already available for rapid transfer without requiring removal or search.
4Ease of manufacture
If clips are kept in separate refill packs, then storage is organized, but the time to locate and retrieve refill packs increases surgery duration
Solution Approach 1:
The refill pack is designed as a universal component that can be attached to various surgical access devices through standardized mechanisms. This universality allows the same refill pack design to be used across different surgical setups and locations, eliminating the need to search for different types of packs and reducing location time while maintaining organized storage.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical clip pack includes a frame configured to engage a portion of a surgical access device. The frame includes a storage compartment and an annulus defining a lumen that has a diameter at least as large as a diameter of an opening of the surgical access device. A receptacle is disposed within the storage compartment and is configured to house a surgical fastener.