Wound care measuring glove

Purpose:

The present invention relates to a method of facilitating the making of short measurements up to 16cm by healthcare providers attending to those patients who must report weekly measurements on the healing process of wounds, surgical incisions and bedsores required by U.S. Medicare Regulations.

Objective:

Typical care requires the providers use of surgical gloves to unwrap the bandage, clean and assess the wound while obtaining measurements for their weekly report. The measurements that is taken with a paper measuring tape that is laid across the wound and dimensions of length, width, depth and often tunneling are to be obtained.

The surgical glove worn by the healthcare provider will be imprinted with the measuring scale along the index finger thumb and pinky. This method of using a surgical glove that is imprinted with the measuring scale along a digit or digits  will provide an easy and accurate method of wound measurements for recording and assessing over time the healing or degrading of the scar or wound while eliminating the risk of cross contamination by the use of additional measuring devices.

Conclusions:

Estimated annual access hospital costs associated with rehospitalizations due to the increase in infection related to cross-contamination in the United States was $3.2 billion from 2000-2002. The benefit of providing the measuring scale on the glove which must be worn in compliance with CMS requirements outweigh the time money and additional space needed to contain these additional products significantly.

Often this tape is not readily available therefore interrupting patient care and in avoidance of this, survey results have indicated that estimating the size of the wound may happen more frequently than one would expect and is a noncompliant practice. Also a reflection on the research-based practice, providing for inaccurate research resulting in a cost estimated beyond comprehension.