Beds – Invalid bed or surgical support – With body member support or restrainer
Patent
1996-12-03
1998-03-24
Meyers, Steven N.
Beds
Invalid bed or surgical support
With body member support or restrainer
5625, 5627, 5628, A47B 100
Patent
active
057298505
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a stretcher for moving injured or sick persons, in particular in narrow spaces, which stretcher comprises a base made of flexible sheet material, such as cloth or plastic, means for securing the patient to the base and carrying means for carrying the stretcher.
In many situations, for instance on ships, it is necessary to transport a patient on a stretcher in narrow spaces, along narrow staircases or through small portholes, or lift or lower a patient in an upright position. The patient can usually not be moved safely carried on a conventional stretcher. A conventional stretcher is too wide and too long. Therefore patients have to be carried in various improvised ways. Often a conventional stretcher is so large in itself that it is difficult to place it beside the patient, let alone to move it with the patient. The bars alone, the carrying means of the conventional stretcher, take up a great deal of space both in the lateral and the longitudinal directions.
The patient is strapped on the stretcher when the stretcher is being moved. Generally, loose straps are then used, which are difficult to fasten to the correct places in the stretcher. If the patient has to be moved in an oblique position, for instance in narrow staircases, the patient has to be tied very tightly to the stretcher to prevent him from slipping down to the lower part of the stretcher. The tight straps may considerably aggravate the condition of the patient. To lift a patient when he is in an upright position by means; of a conventional stretcher is very cumbersome.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a stretcher which is better than those of the prior art.
It is a particular object of the invention to provide a stretcher on which a patient can also be moved in narrow spaces, even with the patient in a vertical position, and without the stretcher substantially bending.
In order to achieve the above mentioned objects the invention is characterized by the features defined in the appended claims.
The stretcher according to the invention thus comprises a base which is made of flexible sheet material, such as fireproof PVC plastic or other material suitable for this purpose. The base is made of a protecting sheet which is at least partly wider than the patient to be carried and which at the breast height of the patient is wider than at the leg height of the patient.
The protecting sheet should at least partly protect the sides of the patient. Preferably the protecting sheet is so large that it protects the side of the body substantially completely and at least a portion of the front side of the body, i.e. at least a portion of the breast, the abdomen region and the legs of the patient. The protecting sheet will then support the patient along the whole body and part of the legs, wherefore straps are not needed to the same extent as when the patient is tied to an open stretcher.
The downwards, against the foot-end, narrowing shape forms a conical or torso-shaped space for the patient inside the protecting sheet. The protecting sheet, which is firmly disposed around the patient, will then prevent the patient from slipping to the narrower foot-end even when he is in a vertical position while being lifted.
The base is provided with fastening means, by means of which the edges of the protecting sheet are secured around the patient. Thanks to the shape of the protecting sheet, the patient does not have to be tied as firmly to the base with these fastening means as with the straps in a conventional stretcher.
In the protecting sheet there is further disposed one or several bottom stiffeners, such as plywood slats or the like, in the longitudinal direction of the patient, which stiffen the bottom of the base. The bottom stiffener keeps the bottom of the base straight and prevents the base from bending downwards by the weight of the patient. Preferably, there are three adjacent bottom stiffeners, the middlemost of which is slightly longer at its both ends than the stiffeners at the sides.
The bottom stiffen
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Meyers Steven N.
Pham Tueyet-Phllong
Tarpaulin Ky
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