Catheter placement unit

Claim 1

In a catheter placement unit wherein a catheter is to be inserted into an opening into the body of a patient, transversely through an aperture in a flexible disc adapted to be placed over said opening for preventing infection in said opening and the deposition of body fluids from said opening onto the body of said patient, said disc having a first surface adapted to be adhesively adhered to said body of said patient and a second surface having means whereby said catheter is locked in a desired position, the improvement in said means for locking said catheter which comprises: a block of substantially semirigid material affixed to said second surface of said disc and substantially coextensive with an entire diameter of said disc, said block having first and second portions separated by said aperture through said disc and defining a cleft around said aperture, said first and second portions having a passageway therethrough substantially parallel to the portion of said second surface to which said block is attached, which passageway is substantially equal in diameter to the outer diameter of said catheter, said first and second portions further having a slit narrower than the diameter of said passageway extending substantially radially away from said passageway in a direction substantially parallel to the portion of said disc to which Said block is attached and through an external edge of said block along the full length of said passageway.