Squirt Nozzle Hose Adapter for Wound Irrigation

thingiverse

This is a compact nozzle designed to attach to most commercial quick-connect adapters used on hydration packs or water filters. Its purpose is to provide a lightweight alternative to carrying a syringe for high-pressure wound irrigation in wilderness first aid situations. Additionally, it allows you to transform a soft-sided water bottle into a functional super soaker. (Safety note/disclaimer: Aggressive wound cleaning techniques are taught in Wilderness First Responder certification programs and above, only when rapid medical transport is unavailable. This information should not be considered as professional medical advice or a substitute for real first aid training!) The o-rings used have an inner diameter of 8 mm, an outer diameter of 11 mm (1.5 mm thickness), and can be found at local hardware stores. A package of 100 o-rings costs $9 on Amazon, which is more than I would ever consider printing myself. I typically carry some hose and Platypus soft water bottles to use with a Sawyer Mini water filter as a gravity filter. Since I already have these items, the squirt nozzle takes up significantly less space than a syringe. The comparison picture shows the cleaning syringe for the water filter next to it, illustrating the relative size. Using a hydration bladder as an improvised source of high-pressure water is not uncommon advice, but adding a dedicated nozzle makes it a strong competitor to a syringe. If you have access to plenty of clean water, the major advantage is that you can flush a lot of water through the wound quickly, whereas using a small syringe takes much longer to refill and squirt enough water. The biggest downside is that it's not as convenient to aim and squirt as a syringe. While this 3D printed nozzle was an interesting project, it's worth noting that you could also make a similar nozzle by cutting the tip off a squirt gun and gluing it to a hose barb, or by plugging and drilling some hose barb, etc. Thanks to the Wilderness First Responder students who kindly agreed to try out the 3D printed wound irrigation nozzle hose adapter on their patient before he got hurt.