Inter-digital surgical scrub brush for reducing skin trauma

[54] INTER-DIGITAL SURGICAL SCRUB BRUSH FOR REDUCING SKIN TRAUMA

[76] Inventor: Daniel J. Abramson, 7671 San Mateo Dr., East, Boca Raton, Fla. 33433

[21] Appl. No.: 66,501

[22] Filed: May 24,1993

[51] Int. CI.* A46B 5/02; A46B 9/02;

A46B 11/00

[52] U.S. CI 401/6; 401/11;

401/25; 401/27; 401/139; 15/105; 15/114; 15/160; 15/167.3; 15/210.1; 15/244.1

[58] Field of Search 15/104.92, 104.93, 104.94,

15/105-107, 110, 111, 113, 114, 118, 160,167.3, 210.1, 244.1, 244.4; 401/6, 9, 11, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 34, 139; 118/264, 270; 132/313, 317, 320; D4/114, 119, 137; 132/76.4; D32/40, 42, 45

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

D. 236,564 9/1975 Kaufman D32/40 X

2,841,811 7/1958 Carroll il8/270 X

3,066,346 12/1962 Hofstra et al 15/105 X

3,080,687 3/1963 Gross 15/118

3,317,944 5/1967 Napier, Sr. et al 15/244.1

3,387,313 6/1968 Smith et al 132/313 X

3,467,978 9/1969 Golden...: 15/114 X

3,556,667 1/1971 Kaufman 401/28

3,611,468 10/1971 Michael 15/104.93

3,707,012 12/1972 Lane 15/104.93

3,966,335 6/1976 Abramson 15/114 X

4,479,277 10/1984 Gilman et al 15/114 X

4,480,351 11/1984 Koffier 15/106 X

4,757,571 7/1988 Young 15/106 X

5,213,430 5/1993 Pandola 401/139 X

Primary Examiner—Philip H. Coe

Assistant Examiner—Charles Cooley

Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Malin, Haley, DiMaggio &

Crosby

[57] ABSTRACT

An improved surgical scrub brush for providing an aseptic skin condition for surgeons and other hospital personnel who participate in surgery. The scrub brush provides for the simultaneous and expeditious aseptic cleansing of the digital, inter-digital, and web areas of the hand as well as the forearm, while at the same time reducing or eliminating skin abrasion and trauma brought about by numerous scrubbings. The scrub brush includes a soft cleansing pad having channels that allow for simultaneous use so that the user can select either bristles or the soft cleansing pad to reduce skin trauma. Additionally, the brush includes an attached fingernail cleaner and reservoir for dispensing antiseptic soap or skin conditioners.

1 Claim, 2 Drawing Sheets

INTER-DIGITAL SURGICAL SCRUB BRUSH FOR
REDUCING SKIN TRAUMA

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 5

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an improved multiple digit surgical scrub brush for the hands and forearms, and specifically, to a multiple digit surgical scrub brush that includes a bristle surface configuration for simultaneous inter-digital and web space scrubbing, and a much softer foam surface configuration that provides for simultaneous digital scrubbing that reduces trauma to the skin surface. The scrub brush includes one or more containers attached to the brush containing sterile skin protective agents and antiseptics to be used during and after the scrub. It also contains a plastic nail cleaner.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The thorough scrubbing of hands and arms by surgi- 2Q cal personnel, especially doctors, nurses, and other surgical room technicians, is standard procedure to insure an aseptic environment in the operating room. The use of individual scrub brushes for the hands and nails during the scrub process is well known by each member of 25 the surgical team. Although it is imperative and absolutely essential that the scrubbing process for surgical personnel produce complete aseptic results on the surgical personnel's skin, oftentimes surgeons are faced with emergencies that do require immediate action so that 30 the scrubbing process must be done both hurriedly and completely. The primary objective is to aseptically clean the forearms, hands and nails, and in particular, the inter-digital areas and web areas of each hand in conjunction with the nails. After scrubbing, surgical 35 personnel are required to don latex gloves during surgical operations to protect the operating personnel and the patient from transmission, by tear, needle prick or other injury, of bacteria or virus from patient to surgical personnel or vice versa. 40

U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,335 issued to the Applicant Jun. 29, 1976 for a multi-digital surgical scrub brush addressed the problem of expeditiously scrubbing digital and web areas of the hands while insuring thorough cleanliness. One problem not addressed was the fact 45 that most surgical personnel, especially surgeons, participate in several daily operations that, with continued and prolonged scrubbing with hard brush bristles, result in abrasion to the skin and especially the forearms, hands, and digital areas. This, over a period of years, 50 leads to atrophic skin changes. The present invention addresses these problems of thorough cleaning, particularly using a scrubbing device used for inter-digital and web areas. Equally important, the invention provides a means for reducing the traumatic effects of the scrub by 55 producing a single or multiple chamber dispenser of antiseptic chemicals for cleaning and asepsis, as well as various compositions for skin conditioning and skin protection. Also, the brush in accordance with the invention includes a nail cleaner for expeditious use with- 60 out employing additional cleaning implements.

The present invention would typically be sold in a sterile plastic bag with the disposable brush being bathed in antiseptic emollient for one-time use. The scrub brush allows a surgeon to thoroughly and expedi- 65 tiously scrub the inter-digital and web areas of each hand and forearm to an aseptic condition before surgery, while at the same time reducing skin trauma.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A scrub brush for cleaning a human hand, particularly, the digits and inter-digital skin areas, including web areas, that allows a person to thoroughly but expeditiously cleanse his hands without abrasion and resulting skin trauma. The surgical brush is comprised of a flat planar support member, substantially rectangular, having a plurality of somewhat rigid bristles orthogonally attached to one side of said rigid planar member. The bristles are arranged to cover the entire surface area of one side of said rigid, planar support member. The bristles are approximately longer than I". The bristles may be made of artificial or natural fibers that are rigid and as conventionally used in hand brushes. The bristle top surface configuration has four parallel semi-cylindrical indentations or channels formed by the top surface of the bristles and each spaced apart by a raised portion having a flat top. Each channel is sized in depth and radius to be substantially semi-cylindrical in its configuration and can receive one-half surface of a human hand finger. The four parallel channels allow for simultaneous disposition of human fingers of one hand engaging the top surfaces of the bristles in the four channels so that one side of the fingers can be scrubbed simultaneously on one hand. The raised flat bristle portions disposed between each of the four channels are of sufficient height above each channel to engage the inter-digital and web areas of the hands between the fingers on both sides of the fingers for cleansing purposes. Thus, the bristles are configured so that the brush can be used to scrub both sides of the fingers on a hand and scrub the inter-digital areas and other parts of the wrist and forearms.

On the opposite side of the rigid flat support member is attached a soft foam or foam-like pad that also includes four parallel finger receiving channels, each of which receives a different finger and each of which is sized to receive half of the finger. The foam channels include sufficient spacing between projected portions of the foam pad to allow intersection with the inter-digital areas and web areas between the fingers of the hand. The top portions of the foam pad are flat and extends above the channels, separating each of the channels. The foam pad may be made out of foam rubber or foam plastic and is essentially soft when moist. The purpose of using this material is to allow cleansing of both the skin and hand surface without excessive trauma to the skin occasioned by constant scrubbing or brushing as would occur with the bristle side only.

Thus, a person using the brush can either use the bristles or the soft foam pad to accomplish cleansing of the fingers, hand, and wrist areas, using either side of the brush, depending on the particular skin condition of the user. Obviously, the bristles will provide for intense frictional scrubbing action and under certain occasions, may be necessary to use only the bristles. However, the user can switch between the bristles and the soft pad to accomplish aseptic cleansing of the hands to reduce skin trauma.

The improved brush may be marketed in a plastic, sterile, aseptic bag container including a skin protective agent such as aloe vera. The bag may be hermetically sealed until it is ready for use. The brush is envisioned as a disposable (one time use) that, once the plastic package is opened, will be used and then safely disposed. Therefore, the foam pad, bristles, and entire support member are aseptically prepared at the time of manufac