Monitoring bandage apparatus and method of use thereof

Abstract

The invention comprises a method for monitoring a wound site of a patient, comprising the steps of: (1) applying a force to a breakable barrier of a bandage, applied to the wound site, to activate a time sensor at an initial time of application of the bandage; (2) monitoring elapsed time since application of the bandage through total migration length of a fluid from a reservoir into a migration zone; and (3) demarking time through progression of a colored fluid from the reservoir into the migration zone with calibrated time points printed on the bandage, such as in a PICC line assembly. Optionally and preferably, the breakable barrier is breached through a force of any of: applying a downward signing force across a frangible seam, peeling an adhesive backing off of the bandage, stretching an adhesive tape used to secure the PICC line, and rotating a valve.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.