Needle Disposal System

WARNING: THIS 3D PRINTED NEEDLE DISPOSAL SYSTEM SHOULD ONLY BE USED BY HEALTHCARE INSTITUTIONS AFTER CAREFUL EVALUATION AND TESTING. USERS ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SYSTEM'S USE.

DESCRIPTION

This is a needle disposal system designed to fit repurposed HDPE plastic containers with 35mm outside diameter, 5mm spaced threading. The design requires a tether which can be custom-made or use a simple twist tie.

50+ of these systems are currently in use at a local children's hospital after several months of evaluation, testing, and design iterations.

Some of the images are of older versions with a single notch for detaching needles from syringes. The STL file features two notches.

USE

The inner cap fits onto the bottle's threading. It has two notches on either side to catch and assist in removing a needle from a syringe. Once the needle is inside the bottle, the outer cap is fitted on top using two more securing notches to keep the bottle closed until its next use.

A tether is used to keep the outer cap nearby the inner cap when in use. Repurposed HDPE bottles with their original caps can be sealed and disposed of according to a healthcare institution's guidelines and the 3D printed system can be reused with another repurposed bottle.

The SketchUp file is included, and contains incremental models showing how the threading was created.

Also included are labels that can be printed out and used on repurposed HDPE plastic containers to designate them clearly as sharps disposal containers.

LEARN MORE

This project is part of our medical maker initiative.

Read more here: http://www.progressth.org/2017/01/medical-maker-project-continues.html
Or watch our video overview: https://youtu.be/g5bXY1ezCk8