Site scrub brush

This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application 61/195,002, filed Oct. 2, 2008.

This invention relates to an improvement of the microbial scrub brush described in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/732,075 filed Apr. 2, 2007.

As is known various products have been provided in an effort to sterilize the ports of various medical devices. For example, published U.S. Patent Application 2008/0147047 describes a cap that has a threaded interior for threading onto a hub and that has one or more pillows saturated with disinfectant within the interior for engaging the hub. The cap is described as remaining on the hub.

Published U.S. Patent Application 2007/0225660 describes a swab pouch that is to serve as a valve facial swab and a valve cover. As described, the swab pouch has a flattened configuration that can be dilated as by squeezing the pouch between thumb and forefinger. In one embodiment, the swab pouch includes an absorbent inner layer of elastic fabric or non-elastic comprised of absorbent cotton containing a disinfectant. The entire swab pouch may be elastic or the outer layer may be elastic. In one embodiment, the outer layer may be an elastic silicone sleeve, coating or molded component or may be molded with the fabric or molded into the fabric.

Published U.S. Patent Application 2006/0030827 describes a luer cleaner that is described as being sized to receive a luer connector and that has bristles of polypropylene to engage and clean the outer surfaces of the luer connector.

It is an object of this invention to provide a site scrub brush that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

It is another object of the invention to provide a site scrub brush that can be manually compressed to enhance the scrubbing effect of the brush on the outer surfaces of a luer.

Briefly, the invention provides a site scrub brush that is formed of a foam material of block-like shape that can receive and retain a solution, such as a cleaning solution or disinfectant, and that is encased by a sealing material, but for one surface, to prevent loss of the solution. The unsealed surface may be covered by a removable cover, such as a foil of aluminum or other suitable material, such that upon removal of the cover, the foam material may be used to swab an instrumentality, such as a luer connector. The sealing material is characterized in being of a nature and/or thickness that is flexible and one that will allow the foam material to be compressed or deformed when squeezed when a connector is inserted into it.

The foam material may be open celled or semi-opened celled and may be molded or extruded or die cut from sheeting.

The sealing material may be polyurethane, polyester or any plastic polymer which is non-permeable in nature and which will act as a barrier preventing any solution from entering or leaving the foam material. The sealing material may be applied to the exposed surfaces of the foam material by being sprayed on or laminated onto the foam material or by dipping of the foam material into the sealing material in order to seal the perimeter and bottom surface of the foam material.

The solution can be a cleaning solution or disinfectant.

The foam material may be shaped and formed into sections, such as described in U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 11/732,075 and 12/079,965 and used as described in each patent application, the disclosure of each of which is incorporated herein.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a site scrub brush in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a modified site scrub brush in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a modified site scrub brush in accordance with the invention having a conically tapered central section;

FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a modified site scrub brush in accordance with the invention having a conically tapered central portion defining an entrance between the annular portion and central portion;

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a modified site scrub brush in accordance with the invention having an annular slit to define an annular portion and a central portion;

FIG. 6 illustrates a view similar to FIG. 5 with a slit extending throughout the length of an annular portion and a central portion; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a view similar to FIG. 6 with a cover in place.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the site scrub brush is fabricated of a foam material 10 of block shape that is surrounded by a thin layer 11 of sealing material. In particular, the foam material is of cylindrical block-like shape and is made of a semi-open celled foam of medium density, such as a semi-closed hydrophilic polyurethane medical grade foam.

The foam material 10 is of a nature to receive a solution, such as a cleaning solution or antibacterial disinfectant solution, and may be used as described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/732,075 and 12/079,965.

The sealing material 11 may be polyurethane, polyester or any plastic polymer which is non-permeable in nature and which will act as a barrier preventing any solution from entering or leaving the foam material.

The scrub brush is provided with a removable cover 12 that is secured over an open end of the foam material 10 . The cover 12 may be a foil, such as an aluminum foil and is heat sealed to the exposed surface of the foam material 10 . The cover (or foil lid) 12 would be peeled away prior to use and will prevent the solution in the foam material 10 from leaking out or drying out.

Alternatively, the cover 12 can be sealed to the thin barrier coating 11 of the sealing material.

In order to fabricate the scrub brush, the foam material 10 is molded or extruded or die cut from sheeting to form a cylindrical block shape. In particular, the foam material 10 is injection molded. Thereafter, the block of foam material 10 is dipped into a sealing material to form a thin layer 11 of the sealing material about the periphery and the bottom of the foam material 10 leaving the top surface exposed.

The thin layer 11 of sealing material is characterized in being of a nature and/or thickness that is flexible and one that will allow the foam material 10 to be compressed or deformed when squeezed when a connector is inserted into it. In particular, the layer 11 of sealing material is of a thickness to seal the peripheral surfaces and bottom of the block of foam material 10 while allowing the resultant scrub brush to be compressed manually under the finger pressure of a user. For example, where the block of foam material has a diameter of 0.75 inches and a height of 0.87 inches, the thickness of the layer is from 0.050 inches to 0.080 inches.

Thereafter, the anti-bacterial disinfectant solution is placed in the foam material 10 and the cover 12 put into place to seal in the solution

The molded configuration of the foam material 10 is made to readily accept a medical type connector female luer. The shape configurations can be molded, burned or ground into the foam material 10 . As shown, the foam material 10 has a base 13 , an annular portion 14 extending upwardly, as viewed, from the base 13 and a central portion 15 extending upwardly from the base 13 in circumferentially spaced concentric relation to the annular portion 14 to define an annular gap 16 . The annular portion 15 has a conical inwardly directed surface 17 that provides a narrowing entrance to the gap 16 and the central portion has a flat end 18 .

Each of FIGS. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 , wherein like reference characters indicate like parts as above, displays different configurations in which the foam material 10 can be molded or extruded to form different shapes for various connectors.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the central portion 15 of the scrub brush is made with a rounded end 19 .

Referring to FIG. 3 , the scrub brush has a gap 16 ′ that extends the full depth of the central portion 14 without a conical entrance portion as in FIG. 1 .

Referring to FIG. 4 , the scrub brush has an annular slit 20 that separates the annular portion 14 from the central portion 15 so that the two portions are contiguous to each other. In addition, the central portion 15 is tapered at the end.

As indicated in FIG. 5 , the annular slit separating the annular portion of the foam material 10 from the central portion may extend half-way into the foam material or, as indicated in FIGS. 6 and 7 , the annular slit may extend completely through the foam material 10 .

The construction of the scrub brush allows the scrub brush to be handled as a self contained individually sterile device. For example, since the surfaces of the foam material 10 are closed by the layer 11 of sealing material and the cover 12 , the foam material can be maintained in a sterile condition until ready for use.

The outer barrier 11 and the foil lid 12 will keep the contents of the foam area sterile. The site scrub brush can be supplied in cases of 50 to 100 units. If the unit is dispensed in a sealed pouch with one or more units, the individual units remain sterile on their own merit.

In use, in order to clean a luer, the cover 12 is removed from the scrub brush and the luer inserted into the foam material 10 . In this respect, the luer is inserted coaxially between the annular portion 14 and the central portion 15 such that the outer surfaces of the luer engage with the inner surfaces of the annular portion 14 and the inner surfaces of the luer engage with the outer surfaces of the central portion. Thereafter, the scrub brush is rotated about the luer to scrub the inside and outside surfaces of the luer via the foam material. During this time, debris from the luer is absorbed by the foam material. Due to the flexible nature of the layer 11 of sealing material and the compressibility of the foam material 10 , the use may impose a compressive force on the scrub brush during rotation on the luer to enhance the scrubbing action of the annular portion of the foam material on the outside surfaces of the luer.

The invention thus provides a site scrub brush that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and one that can be manually compressed to enhance the scrubbing effect of the brush on the outer surfaces of a luer.