A bi-directional cannula feature capture mechanism is described herein. Generally, the capture mechanism comprises an inner housing, an outer housing, and a cannula. The inner housing comprises a proximal and a distal cannula feature mating component. The outer housing is adapted to slidably receive the inner housing in a proximal direction. Additionally, the cannula extends through the inner housing and the cannula's feature has a proximal engagement and a distal engagement. The proximal and distal engagements are respectively configured to irreversibly engage the proximal and distal cannula feature mating components when the cannula tip is moved into a shielded position.

An insertion apparatus for inserting an object into a body comprising a housing, a piercing structure with a lumen, wherein the piercing structure extends distally from the housing, a vacuum chamber that communicates with the lumen of the piercing structure, a plunger configured to fit within the vacuum chamber, and a guidewire, wherein the insertion apparatus is configured to be operated with a single hand.

Needle assemblies, such as catheter devices, and related methods having a needle hub with a needle, a catheter tube with a catheter hub and having the needle extending through the catheter tube. A valve is positioned in an interior cavity of the catheter hub and a valve actuator having an extension leg with an engagement section for supporting an arm of a needle safety clip when the safety clip is located in the interior cavity of the catheter hub.

A catheter system may include a catheter hub, a septum disposed within the catheter hub, a catheter tube extending from the catheter hub, a needle hub, and an introducer needle secured within the needle hub. The catheter hub may include a push tab and one or more ribs, which may extend outwardly from an upper surface of the catheter hub. The ribs may be shorter in height than the push tab and/or may be generally parallel to the push tab. The introducer needle may include a flashback notch. In response to insertion of the introducer needle into vasculature, blood may flow into the introducer needle, through the flashback notch, and into a flashback chamber disposed between the septum and the catheter tube. The flashback chamber may be disposed distal to the push tab and the ribs, which may improve visualization of the flashback chamber by a user.

A catheter insertion device (10) is provided for positioning and inserting a catheter (14), particularly a midline catheter into a patient. The insertion device (10) includes an introducer needle (18) that extends from the distal end of the catheter during insertion. A manually operated actuator assembly (20) is movable with respect to a housing for deploying the catheter (14) over the distal end of the introducer needle (18). A step-wise movement of the actuator (20) advances the catheter (14) in stages over the introducer needle (18). A shuttling or indexing mechanism (60, 76) advances the catheter and prevents retraction of the catheter once deployed.

Syringes are described herein. A syringe includes a syringe body, a first plunger, a biasing member, and a priming indicator. The syringe body defines a syringe cavity, a syringe port, and an indicator window, wherein the syringe port is in fluid communication with the syringe cavity. The first plunger comprises a first plunger shaft extending from the first plunger, the first plunger disposed within the syringe cavity and defining a first chamber in the syringe cavity, wherein the first chamber is in fluid communication with the syringe port. The biasing member couples to the first plunger shaft, wherein the biasing member urges the first plunger from an unprimed position to a primed position toward the syringe port. The priming indicator presents the first indicator portion through the indicator window in the unprimed position and presents the second indicator portion through the indicator window in the primed position.

An intravenous (IV) catheter system may include a catheter adapter having a proximal end and a distal end. The IV catheter system may also include a cannula extending through the catheter adapter. A proximal end of the cannula may include a notch. The IV catheter system may also include a needle hub, which may be coupled to the proximal end of the catheter adapter. The needle hub may include a flashback chamber, which may be in fluid communication with the notch when the IV catheter system is in an insertion configuration.

An insertion tool for inserting a catheter into a patient's body includes a housing in which at least a portion of the catheter is initially disposed, a hollow needle distally extending from the housing with the catheter pre-disposed over the needle, and a guidewire pre-disposed in the needle. The insertion tool can include a guidewire advancement assembly that can include a first finger pad for selectively advancing the guidewire distally past a distal end of the needle in preparation for distal advancement of the catheter. The insertion tool can further include a catheter advancement assembly that can include a second finger pad for selectively advancing the catheter into the patient. The first and second finger pads can be positioned such that a user can begin to advance the second finger pad after advancing the first finger pad without substantially re-positioning the thumb or finger of the user.

A catheter system may include a catheter hub, a catheter tube, a needle carrier, a needle extending distally from the needle carrier and through the catheter tube, a guidewire slider, and a guidewire extending distally from the guidewire slider. The guidewire slider may be configured to couple to the needle carrier in response to sliding of the guidewire slider. The catheter system may include a safety slider configured to slide with the guidewire slider from a proximal position to a distal position. In response to the guidewire slider and the safety slider sliding together from the proximal position to the distal position, the safety slider may be configured to couple to a proximal end of the needle carrier. In response to rotation of an additional slider into a cutout tab of a housing, the guidewire slider may be configured to uncouple from the additional slider.

An IV access device can include a needle hub that incorporates a flash chamber. The flash chamber can be used to provide visual confirmation of proper catheter placement within a vein. The flash chamber can include a path-defining structure to facilitate identifying whether blood is continually flowing into the flash chamber. The flash chamber may also be removable from the needle hub. In some cases, the needle hub may include a paddle grip that facilitates insertion of the catheter and separation of the needle hub from the catheter adapter.