Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Utility Tray
Technical Field
The invention relates to an utility tray and,
more particularly, to a pharmaceutical utility tray ~or
- 5 administration of medication and monitoring thereof.
Background Art
A variety of pharmaceutical packages or kits
well known in the art provide holders for syringes
and/or a vial(s) of medication for administration by
patients at their convenience, typically at home at
predetermined times with predetermined amounts o~ ?
medication. For example, U.S. Patent No. 4,318,~73 ??
issued March 9, 1982, discloses a dispensing package
which arranges pharmaceutical medication in rows and
columns to indicate to the user when the predetermined
daily dosage of medication is to be taken.
Another suc~h~ ~ armaceutical kit disclosed in
U.S. Patent No. 4,345,338 issued September 14, 1982,
provides for the maintaining of syringes in an upper end
of housing, the syringes being arranged with indicia to
indicate the day of use. The presence or absence of the
syringe from its proper holder indicates whether the
dosage has been taken. Similarly, see U.S. Patent No.
4,383,615 issued May 17, 1983.
Although a dosage tracking system is desirable
in a pharmaceutical package, the above-mentioned
tracking system necessitates the user to select the
proper, and not just any, syringe for the appropriate
indicia, e.g. day, week, time, location of
administration, etc. Further, while these packages may
be satisfactory for some applications, other
applications may not lend themselves to storage in
predetermined compartments because of sterility, for~
example.
In addition to the above-noted concerns, it is
preferable to design a kit or package to store a supply
of syringes, alcohol wipes/ and/or vials of the
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medication in a pharmaceutical package for easy
dispensing. Further, the packaging should be designed
to facilitate removal of pharmaceutical items and
preparation of materials to administer medication, since
oftentimes patients have difficulty in maniyulating
small items from the packaging. In the same regard,
packaging should preferably facilitate proper
administration of medication by proper aseptic technique
and easy and safe disposal of items utilized in
administrating medication.
Disclosure of the Invention
.
In accordance with the invention, an utility
tray includes a plurality of holders each capable of
receiving a removable sleeve or cap of a hypodermic
syringe used to administer medication to an user. The
plurality of holders in conjunction with indicia
arranged proximate thereto provide means for reminding
the user of the amount, time, number of dosesj etc., of
medication administered by the user. Additionally, the
utility tray includes a plurality of compartments to
store a plurality o~ syringes, alcohol wipes and/or
vials of medication, etc., for easy dispensin~. To
facilitate preparation of m~terials, e.g. filling a
syringe with medication and holding it aseptic while the
user is preparing administration of the same, a syrin~e
rest is provided. Further, a waste disposal depository
is provided to facilitate proper and safe disposal of
the wipes and syringe, etc., subsequent to the
admini~tration of medication.
t
Brief Description of the Drawings
' The invention will now be described with
reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a
utility tray in accordance with t`he invention;
Figure 2 is a top plan view of the tray of
FigUre l;
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Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the tray o~
~igure l;
Figure 4 is a front of the tray of Figure l;
Figure S is a side, cross-sectional view o~ the
tray of Figure 2 taken along lines 5-5;
Figure 6 is a si~e, cross-sectional vie~ of the
tray of Figure 2 taken along lines 6-6:
Figure 7 is a rear side view of the tray
depicted in Figure l; and
Figure 8 is a view of the side not shown in the
tray depicted in Figure 1.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the ~nvention
. .
In accordance with the invention, an utility
tray 10, as best seen in Figure 1, is designed as a
compact unit for shipping and supporting items necessary
for the administration of a medication. The tray 10 is
comprised of a top section 12, a middle, reservoir
enclosing section 13 and a bottom plate 14. The top
section 12 and midd~e section 13 are typically molded
into one piece, while the bottom plate 14 is adhered to
the bottom of the middle section 13 by conventional
means. The middle section 13 includes a pluralit~ of
walls 15 which extend vertically between the top section
12 and bottom plate 14. These walls 15 also form a lip
16 to retain a cover tnot shown) over the top section 12
when the tray 10 is shipped or stored away.
The top section 12 of the tray 10 has a
plurality of storage compartments 18, 24 and 42 for
holding contents such as sterile prepackaged, disposable
hypodermic syringes (not shown) each having a removable
sleeve or cap which covers the needle portion of the
syringe, a plurality of prepackaged alcohol wipes (not
shown) ~or the preparation of the vial and the injection
site and a vial (not shown) containing the medication to
be administered. The top section 12 also includes a
waste disposal depository 28, a syringe rest 36 and a
syringe needle cap holding section 46 which serves as
means for reminding an user o~ the daily dose of
medication administered.
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A first storage compartment 18 includes four
walls 19 and a bottom 20 into which hypodermic syringes
are typically stored. Adjacent to the first storage
compartment 18, is a second storage compartment 24 which
is likewise formed by a plurality of walls 26, some of
which do not run continuously into each other so as to
provide at least one access 27 enabling an user to take
out of the compartment 24 whatever is stored therein,
e.g. wipes. The third storage compartment 42 having a
vial recess 44 sized to firmly hold a vial of
medication, is provided adjacent the compartment l8 and
section 46.
Adjacent the second storage compartment 24 is a
waste disposal depository 28 including a slot 32 into
which waste materials can be inserted and a reservoir 30
in which the waste materials are deposited and stored.
The reservoir 30 is formed by the walls 15 of the mlddle
section 13 and the interior side of both the top section
12 and the bottom plate 14, and may be contiguous and
integral with a chamber 53, described hereinbelow;
located beneath the needle cap holding section 46. The
- reservoir 34 is sized to accommodate the disposal of the
prepackaged and/or contaminated hypodermic syringes or
the prepackayed alcohol wipes. The slot 32 is, in part,
formed by at'least one flexible flap 34 which protrudes
into the slot 32 to prevent the exiting of the
contaminated syringes once they have been inserted
through the slot 32 and into the disposal reservoir 30.
Adjacent to the depository 28 is a syringe rest
36 which is formed by a plurality of gussets 38. The
gussets 38 each have an indent 40 which provides
location into which a syringe may be set. When a
syringe is properly set into the indents 40 with the
needle of the syringe pointed toward the syringe needle
cap holding section 46,-the user is protected from
accidently contacting the needle whereas the section 46
is elevated above and immediately adjacent the indents
40.
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The syringe needle cap holding section 46,
adjacent to the compartment 18 and the syringe rest 36,
is comprised of a plurality of needle cap hold~rs ~8 for
holding a sleeve portion 54 of a hypodermic s~ringe.
Each holder includes a flexible flap 50 which is
inwardly bendable when a syringe cap 54 is pushed
thereagainst and which covers a hole or access 51 to a
chamber 53 (Figure 6) into which a cap 54 can protrude.
The hole 51 is sized to hold the upper collar of the cap
54, yet provide access to the chamber 53 ~or the
protruding portion of the cap 54. A plurality of
indicia 52 are adhered proximate to the holders 48 and
can indicate time, date, number of doses, etc. When the
c~p 54 is pla~ed in a sleeve holder 48 prior to
administration o the medication, an user will be able
to keep track or later be reminded of the date, time or
number of doses of medication administered.
Use of the preferred embodiment of the
invention is initiated when an user removes a syringe
stored in the storage compartment 18. A sterile
covering (not shown) is removed from the syringe and the
rubber stopper of the vial, set in the recess 44 t iS
dampened with an alcohol wipe stored in tne storage
compartment 24. The syringe sleeve S4 of the syringe is
removed therefrom and placed into the appropriate sleeve
holder 48, thereby indicating, for examplet that that
administration of medication for that day has been
given. The syringe is then filled with the medication
contained in the vial by either first removing the vial
from the recess 44 and then inserting the syringe needIe
therein and withdrawing the medication from the vial, or
inserting the syringe needle into the vial, ~irmly set
in and supported by the recess 44r and then removing the
vial from the recess and withdrawing the medication into
the syringe. Once the medication is filled in the
syringe, the syringe itself may be set on the syringe
rest 36, with the needle pointed toward the cap holding
section 46, thereby providing a safe location on which
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to set the syringe while the injection site is prepared
for the administration o~ medication. Alcohol wipes
stored in the storage compartment 2~ are then utilized
to dampen the injection si~e. The user is then ready to
administer the filled syringe. ~aste materials from the
prepackaged syringe and from the prepackaged alcohol
wipes may be disposed of through the slot 32 into the
waste disposal reservoir 30.
It is therefore apparent that the present
invention provides an utility tray that affords a
convenient and safe workstation includ ng storage
compartments and a syringe rest, means for allowing the
user to easily keep track of the user's regulated
medication requirements and a readily accessible waste
disposal reservoir.
The foregoing invention can now be practiced by
those skilled in the art. Such skilled persons will
know that the invention is not necessarily restricted to
the particular embodiment presented herein. For
example, although the particular embodiment is described
hereinabove wherein the reminding means utilizes the
sleeves of syringes, such means could analogously be
used with caps to small bottles of medication to be
orally ingested and stored in the compartments described
hereinabove.
