Dosage verification system and method for safety syringe

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12458761-B2
Application number	US-202217929169-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2022
Priority date	Sep 1, 2022
Publication date	Nov 4, 2025
Grant date	Nov 4, 2025

Abstract

A dosage verification system for use prior to administering an injection of a medicinal fluid drawn into a medical syringe, the system comprising a medical syringe having a barrel with an outwardly facing, flat indicia display surface, plunger having a plunger seal disposed inside and slidably engaging an inwardly facing wall of the barrel and a plunger handle projecting rearwardly from the barrel, and a hypodermic needle projecting forwardly from the barrel, all in combination with an imaging device configured to view and selectively capture, store or transmit a digital image of the plunger position relative to the barrel when a dose of the medicinal fluid is drawn into the fluid chamber of the barrel prior to an injection to verify and provide a record of the dosage drawn, and to alert a user prior to injection when an incorrect dosage is drawn into the fluid chamber of the syringe.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A syringe dosage verification system for use prior to administering an injection of a medicinal fluid, the system comprising:
a medical syringe comprising a transparent barrel having a cylindrical fluid chamber and an outwardly facing flat indicia display surface, a plunger handle having a plunger seal slidably engaging the cylindrical fluid chamber, and a forwardly projecting hypodermic needle, wherein an entirety of a volumetric scale and associated numeric indicia are disposed on the outwardly facing flat indicia display surface between a finger flange and a nose of the barrel; and an imaging device configured to view and selectively capture a digital image of the forwardly extending end of the plunger seal as positioned inside the cylindrical fluid chamber of the barrel in relation to the entirety of the volumetric scale and the associated numeric indicia disposed on the outwardly facing flat indicia display surface between the finger flange and the nose of the barrel when a volumetric dosage of the medicinal fluid is drawn into the cylindrical fluid chamber of the barrel and when at least a portion of the outwardly facing flat indicia display surface and the entirety of the volumetric scale and the associated numeric indicia dispose on the outwardly facing flat indicia display surface between the finger flange and the nose of the barrel are disposed within a field of view of the imaging device to determine the volumetric dosage of the medicinal fluid drawn into the cylindrical fluid chamber of the barrel prior to administering the injection of the medicinal fluid.

2 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is a mobile imaging device.

3 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 2 , wherein the mobile imaging device is a cellular telephone.

4 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 2 , wherein the mobile imaging device is a digital scanner.

5 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 2 , wherein the imaging device is configured by downloading and installing application software on the imaging device.

6 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 5 , wherein the application software is configured to generate an alert to notify a user if the fluid dosage drawn into the cylindrical fluid chamber of the barrel is not correct.

7 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 6 , wherein the alert is at least one of an audio alert, a visual alert, and a tactile alert.

8 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 7 , wherein an alert generation device is configured to generate the alert.

9 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 1 , further comprising: a comparator configured to determine whether the dosage drawn into the medical syringe is within a permissible range of deviations from a predetermined value.

10 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 9 , wherein the comparator is configured to notify a user of an incorrect fluid dosage drawn into the medical syringe.

11 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 1 , wherein the medical syringe comprises at least one needle safety device configured to protect a user or a third party from an accidental needle stick.

12 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one needle safety device comprises a mechanism that selectively retracts the hypodermic needle into a needle retraction chamber that is integrally molded with the cylindrical fluid chamber and the outwardly facing flat indicia display surface following use.

13 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 11 , wherein the hypodermic needle has a forwardly extending needle tip, and wherein the needle safety device comprises a needle safety shield that is forwardly moveable by the user to cover the forwardly extending needle tip of the hypodermic needle following use.

14 . A syringe dosage verification system for use prior to administering an injection of a medicinal fluid, the system comprising:
a medical syringe comprising:
a barrel having a nose, a finger flange, an outwardly facing flat indicia display surface disposed between the nose and the finger flange, and an inwardly facing surface defining a cylindrical fluid chamber inside the barrel, wherein an entirety of a volumetric scale is disposed on the outwardly facing flat indicia display surface between the finger flange and the nose of the barrel;
a plunger having a plunger handle and a plunger seal disposed on a distal end of the plunger handle and slidably engaging the inwardly facing surface of the cylindrical fluid chamber of the barrel; and
a forwardly projecting hypodermic needle; and
an imaging device configured to view and selectively capture a digital image of a position of the plunger seal relative to the entirety of the volumetric scale disposed on the outwardly facing flat indicia display surface between the finger flange and the nose of the barrel when a dosage of the medicinal fluid is drawn into the cylindrical fluid chamber of the barrel and when at least a portion of the outwardly facing flat indicia display surface and the entirety of the volumetric scale disposed on the outwardly facing flat indicia display surface between the finger flange and the nose of the barrel are within a field of view of the imaging device to determine the dosage of the medicinal fluid drawn into the cylindrical fluid chamber of the barrel prior to administering the injection.

15 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 14 further comprising a comparator configured to determine from the digital image of the position of the plunger handle relative to the barrel for a specified syringe and dosage whether a volume of medicinal fluid drawn into the medical syringe is within a permissible range of deviation from a predetermined dosage.

16 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 15 , wherein the comparator is operatively coupled to an alert generation device to notify a user of an incorrect fluid dosage drawn into the medical syringe.

17 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 16 , wherein the alert generation device is configured to generate at least one of an audio alert, a visual alert and a tactile alert.

18 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 14 , further comprising: an alert generation device configured to notify a user of an incorrect fluid dosage drawn into the medical syringe.

19 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 14 , wherein the imaging device is a mobile imaging device or digital scanner.

20 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 19 , wherein the mobile imaging device is a cellular telephone.

21 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 14 , wherein the imaging device is configured by downloading and installing application software on the imaging device.

22 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 21 , wherein the application software is configured to generate an alert to notify a user of an incorrect fluid dosage drawn into the medical syringe.

23 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 22 , wherein the alert is at least one of an audio alert, a visual alert and a tactile alert.

24 . The syringe dosage verification system of claim 14 , wherein the medical syringe comprises at least one needle safety device configured to protect a user or a third party from an accidental needle stick.

Assignees

• Retractable Technologies Inc
• Shaw Thomas J

Inventors

• Shaw Thomas J
• Duesman Kathryn
• Small Mark
• Zhu Ni

Classifications

• G08B21/182

  Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold · CPC title

• A61M2005/3126

  Specific display means related to dosing · CPC title

• A61M2205/3569

  sublocal, e.g. between console and disposable · CPC title

• A61M2205/18

  with alarm · CPC title

• A61M2205/3592

  using telemetric means, e.g. radio or optical transmission · CPC title