Sterile sleeve barrier with incorporated tubing kit for smoke and fluid evacuation

A method of providing a sterile sleeve barrier with incorporated tubing, comprising the steps of:

• providing at least one piece of surgical equipment, the at least one piece of surgical equipment including tubing;
• positioning the at least one piece of surgical equipment into a sleeve, wherein the sleeve is axially-shortened, such that when the sleeve is fully extended, it has an overall length that is substantially greater than a total length of the at least one piece of surgical equipment;
• inserting a sleeve card into an end of the sleeve;
• coupling the sleeve card to a distal end of the sleeve, wherein the coupling is accomplished by one or more of providing the sleeve card with a width greater than a nominal width of the sleeve, affixing the sleeve card to the sleeve with adhesive tape, applying an adhesive or cohesive material to one or both of the sleeve card and the sleeve, providing barb-shaped cutouts on the sleeve card;
• positioning the at least one piece of surgical equipment, within the sleeve, into an external pouch;
• and
• sealing the external pouch.

A method of use of a sterile sleeve barrier, comprising the steps of:

• providing a package containing at least one piece of surgical equipment, the package including the at least one piece of surgical equipment surrounded by an axially-shortened, extensible barrier sleeve, the at least one piece of surgical equipment and sleeve being enclosed within a sealed pouch, the package being one of sterilizable or previously sterilized, the sealed pouch comprising first and second juxtaposed sheets of material being peelably affixed to one another;
• opening the package;
• removing the at least one piece of surgical equipment and barrier sleeve from the package;
• coupling the at least one piece of surgical equipment to a second piece of surgical equipment;
• extending the barrier sleeve to at least partially cover the second piece of surgical equipment.