HK1023485A - Hospital gown for patient - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a hospital gown for patients comprising a back and a front.

These types of gowns are used in hospitals to dress sick people.[1] Traditionally, the back is made up of two symmetrical sides that are attached by any known means of attachment, such as ties or push-buttons.[2] Some models of patient gowns have only a few ties or buttons in the top of the back, which means that when the patient is standing, the sides of the back of the gown come apart, revealing the back of his body.

In addition, when the fasteners used to connect the two ends of the spine are buttons or pressures, the patient who is permanently bedridden may feel them in his back and experience some discomfort.

In addition, to wear this type of jacket, it is necessary to put it on by the sleeves and tie it in the back. This may be difficult when the patient's upper body has reduced mobility. Similarly, to remove the jacket, the patient must remove his arms from the sleeves. However, a patient in a hospital environment is often put under infusion or connected to devices, such as a syringe pusher or any other machine. When the healthcare staff needs to change the jacket of the patient, they must pass the bottles containing the infusion serum into the sleeves or they must unplug the machines to which the patient is connected to remove the jacket. These manipulations take time and it can be dangerous to unplug the devices, for a short moment.

Some models have been developed to attempt to address these problems. Such models are described in US patents US-A-4 422 186, US-A-4 805 241, US-A-3 276 036, US-A-5 611 087 and US-A-4 964 173. These patents describe models of complicated design and therefore have high cost-effectiveness, not suited to the tight budgets of hospitals. On the other hand, these achievements do not allow access, especially to the torso, to perform emergency gestures, such as tracheotomy, intubation, defibrillation, etc., while respecting the patient's modesty.

The present invention aims to overcome these disadvantages by providing a hospital gown for the patient that respects his privacy and comfort and facilitates the handling of the patient by the medical staff.

For this purpose, the invention relates to a blouse of the type described in the preamble, characterised by its back and front parts being joined by two lateral links and by two links extending from the shoulder to the end of the sleeve and by at least one of these links being designed in such a way that it is at least partially removable by means of quick-clutch assembly organs arranged along the said link.

Depending on the variant, the assembly parts may be arranged along at least one of these links extending from the shoulder to the end of the sleeve, the lateral links being made by seam, or along at least one link extending substantially from the shoulder to the elbow, the link of the rest of the sleeve and the lateral links being made by seam.

The back may comprise two parts joined by a vertical connection and fitted with joints along that vertical connection.

The rear and/or front part may, as an advantage, have a window providing access to a part of the body, which is closed by a flap, at least part of which is connected to the blouse by quick-coupling assembly organs.

The upper edge of the blouse is particularly advantageous because it is fitted to the collar of the blouse.

These quick-coupling assemblies may be selected from the group consisting of buttons, push-buttons, contact closures, clasps.

The present invention and its advantages will be better illustrated in the following description of several embodiments, by reference to the attached drawings, in which Figures 1 to 4 represent a front view of different embodiments of the jacket according to the present invention.

As shown in Figure 1, the hospital jacket for patient 1 in a first embodiment consists of a back (not shown) and a front part of identical and superposable shape. Each part consists of a single, noticeably T-shaped piece, to form body 2 and both sleeves. A necklace 4 is provided between the shoulders. The back and front parts are superimposed and assembled by two side links 6 extending from the bottom of sleeve 3 to the lower end of body 2 and by two links 7 extending from shoulder 5 to the end of sleeve 3.The side-bindings 6 are made by seam. Along the two bindings 7 are 8 pressure buttons, placed at equal distances from the shoulder 5 to the end of the sleeve 3. Thus, the healthcare staff can easily put the patient in the jacket by tucking it in by the head or feet and sliding it along the body to place it. The only thing left to do is to connect the shoulders 5 and the sleeves 3 by closing the pressure buttons 8.In addition, the back is one-piece, so there is no risk of the patient being stripped when standing.

If the patient needs to be infused or connected to devices, the healthcare staff can quickly discover the area to be treated by opening one or more push-buttons 8 without having to lift the sleeve or remove it completely. On the other hand, if the patient is being infused, transfused or connected to devices, it is very simple and very fast to change his blouse, simply by opening the pressure buttons 8 and sliding the blouse along the body. The infusions and various devices remain in place and do not have to be disconnected, since the patient's arms are automatically released from the 3 sleeves when the 7 ligaments are opened.

It is of course possible to provide that push-buttons can also be arranged along the lateral ligaments 6 so that the back and front parts are completely separable. This variant can be used for patients who are completely immobilized: the back part is arranged on the bed, the patient lies on it and is covered with the front part which is then assembled to the back part. The patient is thus dressed without having to make any gestures.

It is also possible to provide for pressure buttons arranged only along a link extending from the shoulder to the elbow approximately, the rest of the sleeve being assembled by seam.

For people with special disabilities, the back part can be provided with two panels vertically separated in the centre, which can be connected by means of push-buttons or other assembly organs, in a familiar way. Simply ensuring that enough assembly organs are provided so that the back part is tightly closed when the patient is standing is recommended. In this variant, the blouse can be easily tucked in through the front and sleeves. The shoulder and sleeve bindings will simply be opened during the change of blouse for the passage of infusion bottles or devices.

The jacket 11 shown in Figure 2 is similar to that shown in Figure 1 in the positioning of the joints along the links.17 It is particularly advantageous that the body 12 of the front part has a rectangular window 18 at the chest level covered by a flap 19 which is also rectangular and slightly larger than the window 18.The lower edge of the flap 19a is fixed to the body 12 by a seam.Velcro® contact closures 15 are arranged along the upper edge 19b and the two side edges 19c, 19d to connect these edges to the front part in a removable way.

For example, flap 19 can be opened by the healthcare staff by rotating it around the fixed lower edge 19a and placing it on the body 12. Window 18 is then cleared to allow access to the area to be treated without having to remove the entire gown. For example, when the patient is placed under surveillance using devices placed on his chest, the healthcare staff can leave the devices in place by keeping the flap more or less open and without the patient being undressed.

In addition, the use of quick-coupled assembly organs makes this variant of the jacket particularly suitable for resuscitation services, as the flap can be opened very easily, thus clearing the area of the body where immediate intervention is necessary very quickly.

It is obvious that the window can be provided in a different place than the torso. Different models of gowns can be provided by choosing the location of the window depending on the hospital department in which the gowns will be used. The window may also have other shapes and dimensions than those shown, for example it may be closed by two symmetrical folds opening along an axis of pivot parallel to the centre axis of the blouse.

Figure 3 shows another variant of the 21 blouse, whereby the window 28 and the flap 29 have a significantly longer rectangle shape with a trapezoid at the small base, which forms the 24th neck of the front part. As in the previous variant, the lower edge of the flap 29a is fixed to the body 22 by means of a seam. Velcro® contact closures 25 are arranged along the other edges of the flap 29 to connect these edges removably to the front part.

Thus, when the patient's chest or neck needs urgent intervention by the healthcare staff, for example to perform a tracheotomy, the flap 29 can be removed very quickly with the help of the quick-coupled assembly organs to access the treatment area without the need to tear the blouse and without wasting time.

In another embodiment, shown in Figure 4, the flap 39 consists of two symmetrical flaps 39a, 39b opening along a pivot axis that is significantly parallel to the mid-axis of the blouse 31. The flaps 39a, 39b are formed by a cut of the fabric of the blouse 31 in an inverted T-shape. This cut is particularly simple and inexpensive to make.

Velcro® type 35 contact closures are fitted along the edges of the blinds 39a and 39b to connect these edges removably to the front and to each other.

Here again, the upper edge of the 39th flap corresponds to the 34th collar of the 31st blouse so that access to the torso for emergency gestures is very easy and quick.

It is obvious that the button press or the contact fasteners can be replaced by any other quick-clutch assembly such as buttons or staples. It is also possible to place the contact fasteners where the buttons are provided and vice versa.

The invention is intended for use in the clothing industry and is intended to be used in the manufacture of clothing for children and adults.

The above description clearly shows that all the objectives of the present invention are met. The patient's coat according to the invention allows both patient comfort and modesty, time saving and ease of handling, intervention and better access to the treatment areas for the care staff.

The present invention is not limited to the examples of embodiments described but extends to any modification and variant obvious to a professional.

Claims (7)

1. Hospital jacket for a patient (1, 11, 21, 31) comprising a back and a front, characterised by the fact that the back and front are joined by at least two lateral ligaments (6) and by at least two lateral ligaments (7, 17) extending from the shoulder (5) to the end of the sleeve (3) and that at least one of these ligaments is designed to be at least partially removable by means of quick-coupled assembly organs (8) arranged along the said ligament.
2. Blouse according to claim 1, characterised by the fact that the said assembly organs (8) are arranged along at least one of the said links (7) extending from the shoulder (5) to the end of the sleeve, the lateral links (6) being made by seam.
3. Blouse according to claim 1, characterised by the fact that the said assembly organs (8) are arranged along at least one link extending significantly from the shoulder (5) to the elbow, the linking of the rest of the sleeve and the lateral links (6) being made by seam.
4. Blouse according to any of the above claims, characterised by the fact that the back part consists of two parts joined by a vertical connection and fitted with joining organs arranged along that vertical connection.
5. Blouse according to any of the above claims, characterised by the back and/or front part having a window (18, 28) providing access to a part of the body, the said window (18, 28) being closed by a flap (19, 29, 39) and at least part of the flap being connected to the blouse by quick-coupling assembly organs (15, 25, 35).
6. Blouse according to claim 5, characterised by the upper edge of the blouse (29, 39) corresponding to the neck (24, 34) of the blouse.
7. Blouse according to any of the above claims, characterised by the fact that the said quick-coupling assembly organs (8, 15, 25, 35) are chosen from the group comprising buttons, push-buttons, contact closures, staples.