Disinfecting intravenous connectors

A disinfecting nub assembly for assisting in preventing healthcare-associated infections, said disinfecting nub assembly, and comprising:

• (a) a substrate, comprising a substrate body, said substrate body having opposing surfaces, and opposing first and second ends, and a substrate body length between said first and second ends;
• (b) a plurality of disinfecting nubs mounted to said substrate body, a given said disinfecting nub comprising a housing, said housing having an openable end and a closed end, and sidewalls extending between the openable end and the closed end, thus to define a nub cavity inside said housing, a disinfectant carrier being disposed in the nub cavity;
• and
• (c) first and second substrate connectors associated with the opposing ends of said substrate body, said substrate connectors having connector lengths extending away from the respective ends of said substrate body, said first and second substrate connectors including tethers, said tethers being adapted and configured to tether spaced locations of said disinfecting nub assembly, proximate the opposing ends of said substrate to a given object.

A disinfecting nub assembly for assisting in preventing healthcare-associated infections, said disinfecting nub assembly, having an assembly length, and comprising:

• (a) a substrate, comprising a substrate body, said substrate body having opposing surfaces, and opposing first and second ends, and a substrate body length between said first and second ends;
• (b) a plurality of disinfecting nubs mounted to said substrate body, a given said disinfecting nub comprising a housing, said housing having an openable end and a closed end, and sidewalls extending between the openable end and the closed end, thus to define a nub cavity inside said housing, a disinfectant carrier being disposed in the nub cavity, said disinfectant carrier being adapted to carry a disinfectant material therein;
• and
• (c) a substrate extension extending from the first end of said substrate body, said substrate extension being adapted to mount said disinfecting nub assembly to an article of clothing, or a clothing appurtenance.

A disinfecting nub for assisting in preventing healthcare-associated infections in a medical environment, said disinfecting nub comprising:

• (a) a housing having an openable end and a closed end, and sidewalls extending between the openable end and the closed end, thus to define a nub cavity inside said housing, said housing being manually deflectable toward a longitudinal axis which extends from the openable end to the closed end, to substantially collapse said nub housing;
• (b) a disinfectant carrier disposed in the nub cavity;
• (c) a disinfectant material disposed in said disinfectant carrier in said nub cavity, thus wetting said disinfectant carrier;
• and
• (d) a seal closing the openable end of said housing,
• wherein a medical access port, on an intravenous fluid tubing assembly being used on a patient, can be inserted into the openable end of said housing and subsequently squeezed about a longitudinal axis of said nub, and at least one of said nub and said medical access port rotated relative to the other while maintaining such squeezing, thus to simultaneously apply a tangential scrubbing force to substantially all respective surfaces of such medical access port.

A method of disinfecting a medical access port, comprising:

• (a) mounting, on a user's body, a disinfecting nub assembly comprising
• (i) a substrate, including a substrate body, and opposing first and second ends, and a substrate body length between the first and second ends,
• (ii) a plurality of disinfecting nubs mounted to the substrate body, a given disinfecting nub comprising a housing, the housing having an openable end and a closed end, and sidewalls extending between the openable end and the closed end, thus to define a nub cavity inside the housing, a disinfectant carrier being disposed in the nub cavity, a disinfectant material being disposed in the disinfectant carrier, thus wetting the disinfectant carrier, and
• (iii) first and second substrate connectors associated with opposing ends of the substrate body, the first and second substrate connectors having connector lengths extending away from the respective ends of the substrate body;
• the mounting on the user's body comprising wrapping the first and second substrate connectors about a portion of such user's body and connecting the first and second substrate connectors to each other, thereby to mount the disinfecting nub assembly to the respective portion of the user's body;
• (b) releasing a nub from the substrate and opening the respective nub at the openable end of the respective nub, thereby exposing the disinfectant carrier and the respective disinfectant material;
• and
• (c) applying the disinfectant carrier, and thus the disinfectant material, to the medical access port, thus to disinfect the respective medical access port.

A method of disinfecting a medical access port, comprising:

• (a) mounting, on a user's body, a disinfecting nub assembly comprising
• (i) a substrate, including a substrate body, and opposing first and second ends, and a substrate body length between the first and second ends,
• (ii) a plurality of disinfecting nubs mounted to the substrate body, a given disinfecting nub comprising a housing, the housing having an openable end and a closed end, and sidewalls extending between the openable end and the closed end, thus to define a nub cavity inside the housing, a disinfectant carrier being disposed in the nub cavity, a disinfectant material being carried in the disinfectant carrier, a closure being sealed over the openable end of the housing, and
• (iii) a substrate extension extending from the first end of the substrate body, the substrate extension being adapted to mount the disinfecting nub assembly to an article of clothing, or a clothing appurtenance,
• the mounting on the user's body comprising mounting the adapter to an article of clothing or a clothing appurtenance on the user's body;
• (b) releasing a given nub from the substrate and opening the respective nub at the openable end of the respective nub, thereby exposing the disinfectant carrier and the respective disinfectant material carried therein;
• and
• (c) applying the disinfectant carrier, and thus the disinfectant material, to the medical access port, thus to disinfect the respective medical access port.

A method of disinfecting a medical access port, comprising:

• (a) mounting, to an object, a disinfecting nub assembly, the disinfecting nub assembly comprising
• (i) a substrate, including a substrate body, and opposing first and second ends, and a substrate body length between the first and second ends,
• (ii) a plurality of disinfecting nubs mounted to the substrate body, a given disinfecting nub comprising a housing, the housing having an openable end and a closed end, and sidewalls extending between the openable end and the closed end, thus to define a nub cavity inside the housing, a disinfectant carrier being disposed in the nub cavity, a disinfectant material being disposed in the disinfectant carrier, and a closure sealed over the openable end of the housing,
• (iii) first and second substrate connectors associated with the opposing ends of the substrate body, the substrate connectors having connector lengths extending away from the respective ends of the substrate body, the first and second substrate connectors including tethers, the tethers being adapted and configured to tether spaced locations of the disinfecting nub assembly, proximate the opposing ends of the substrate, to a given object,
• the mounting of the disinfecting nub assembly to the object comprising at least one of
• (I) mounting the first substrate connector to the object at a first location on the object and mounting the second substrate connector to the object at a second location on the object displaced from the first location, or
• (II) wrapping the first substrate connector about the object at a first location on the object and thereafter securing a first remote portion of the first substrate connector to a first proximal portion of the disinfecting nub assembly, and wrapping the second substrate connector about the object at a second location on the object, spaced from the first location, and thereafter securing a second remote portion of the second substrate connector to a second proximal portion of the disinfecting nub assembly;
• (b) opening the respective nub at the openable end of the nub, thereby exposing the disinfectant carrier and the respective disinfectant material;
• and
• (c) applying the disinfectant carrier, and thus the disinfectant material, to a such medical access port, thus to disinfect the respective medical access port.

A method of disinfecting a medical access port, comprising:

• (a) accessing a disinfecting nub, the disinfecting nub comprising
• (i) a housing having a closed end and an openable end, and sidewalls extending between the openable end and the closed end, thus to define a nub cavity inside the housing, the housing being manually deflectable toward a longitudinal axis which extends from the openable end to the closed end, to thereby substantially collapse the nub housing,
• (ii) a disinfectant carrier disposed in the nub cavity,
• (iii) a disinfectant material disposed in the disinfectant carrier in the nub cavity, and
• (iv) a closure sealed over the openable end of the housing;
• (b) inserting a medical access port, on an intravenous fluid tubing assembly being used on a patient, into the openable end of a such nub on the disinfecting nub assembly;
• and
• (c) subsequently squeezing the nub about the longitudinal axis of the nub and rotating at least one of the nub and the medical access port about the other while maintaining the squeezing, thus applying a tangential scrubbing force to the respective surfaces of the respective medical access port.