U.S. patent application number 10/042427 was filed with the patent office on 2003-07-10 for hospital dressing gown construction.
Invention is credited to Scroggins, Georgia W..
Application Number | 20030126668 10/042427 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 21921873 |
Filed Date | 2003-07-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030126668 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Scroggins, Georgia W. |
July 10, 2003 |
Hospital dressing gown construction
Abstract
A hospital dressing gown construction 10 adapted to accommodate
medical tubing, monitor wires, drains etc., wherein the
construction includes a dressing gown member 20 having a generally
T-shaped front 40 and rear 30 panels wherein the front panel 40 is
provided with a deep V-neck opening 44 and an enlarged aperture 45
covered by a pocket flap 50 that is dimensioned to receive a heart
monitor; and, wherein, the front 40 and rear 30 panel members are
joined to one another by both permanent seams 39/49 and a plurality
of pairs of cooperating hook and loop fasteners 36/46 37/47 etc.,
to both facilitate the donning of the construction by a patient and
to provide unfettered access to the patient's torso by medical
personnel.
Inventors: |
Scroggins, Georgia W.;
(Benton, AR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HENDERSON & STURM LLP
1213 MIDLAND BUILDING
206 SIXTH AVENUE
DES MOINES
IA
50309-4076
US
|
Family ID: |
21921873 |
Appl. No.: |
10/042427 |
Filed: |
January 10, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/114 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A41D 13/1236
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
2/114 |
International
Class: |
A41D 010/00; A41B
009/00 |
Claims
I claim:
1. A hospital dressing gown construction adapted to accommodate
medical tubing, monitor wires, drains, etc., wherein the
construction comprises: a dressing gown member having generally
T-shaped front and rear panels wherein the front panel has a torso
covering portion that includes a V-shaped neck opening and an
enlarged aperture covered by a pocket flap and the rear panel has a
torso covering portion that includes a rounded neck opening; and, a
plurality of cooperating pairs of hook and loop fasteners disposed
on selected opposed portions of the front and rear panels.
2. The construction as in claim 1; wherein, one of said plurality
of cooperating pairs of hook and loop fasteners is disposed along
one of the opposed sides of the torso covering portions of the
front and rear panels.
3. The construction as in claim 2; wherein, the other of the
opposed sides of the torso covering portions of the front and rear
panels are connected together by a permanent seam.
4. The construction as in claim 1; wherein, the front and rear
panels of the dressing gown member are provided with a pair of
sleeves having a top and a bottom edge.
5. The construction as in claim 4; wherein, at least one of the top
and bottom opposed edges of the pair of sleeves is provided with a
pair of cooperating hook and loop fasteners.
6. The construction as in claim 5; wherein, at least two of the top
and bottom opposed edges of the pair of sleeves are provided with
two pairs of cooperating hook and loop fasteners.
7. The construction as in claim 6; wherein, the remaining two of
the top and bottom opposed edges of the pair of sleeves are
provided with permanent seams.
8. The construction as in claim 7; wherein, the top edges of the
pair of sleeves are provided with said two pairs of cooperating
hook and loop fasteners.
9. The construction as in claim 3; wherein, the front and rear
panels of the dressing gown member are provided with a pair of
sleeves having a top and a bottom edge.
10. The construction as in claim 9; wherein, at least one of the
top and bottom opposed edges of the pair of sleeves is provided
with a pair of cooperating hook and loop fasteners.
11. The construction as in claim 10; wherein, at least two of the
top and bottom opposed edges of the pair of sleeves are provided
with two pairs of cooperating hook and loop fasteners.
12. The construction as in claim 11; wherein, the remaining two of
the top and bottom opposed edges of the pair of sleeves are
provided with permanent seams.
13. The construction as in claim 12; wherein, the top edges of the
pair of sleeves are provided with said two pairs of cooperating
hook and loop fasteners.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This invention was the subject matter of Document Disclosure
Program Registration No. 491316, filed on Mar. 29, 2001, and
entitled "G.S.D.L. Gown"
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not applicable.
REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX
[0003] Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] 1. Field of the Invention
[0005] The present invention relates to the field of apparel in
general and in particular to a specially designed hospital dressing
gown having a variety of access features.
[0006] 2. Description of Related Art
[0007] As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.
4,055,855; 5,088,117; 4,837,863; and, 4,964,173, the prior art is
replete with myriad and diverse hospital gown constructions
ostensibly designed for ease of use and increased personal
privacy.
[0008] While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are
more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which
they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient
with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and
practically designed hospital gown construction that not only
affords the patient a high degree of personal privacy, but which
also has numerous non-standard access openings adapted to
accommodate IV tubing, monitor wires, drains, ventilators, etc.
[0009] The conventional hospital gown construction has not
undergone any major structural modifications in over 40 years and
is totally out of sync with the demands of modern medicine, not to
mention the age old "bare butt" problem.
[0010] As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has
existed a longstanding need for a new and improved hospital
dressing gown construction that addresses all of the shortcomings
of the conventional open back dressing gown and also makes
provisions for recent advances in routine hospital care; and, the
provision of such a construction is the stated objective of the
present invention.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] Briefly stated, the hospital dressing gown construction that
forms the basis of the present invention comprises in general a
dressing gown member having a front panel and a rear panel fixedly
and releasably joined together in a specific manner to facilitate
the donning of the dressing gown while also providing access for
diverse tubes, monitor wires, drains, etc.
[0012] As will be explained in greater detail further on in the
specification, the front panel is also provided with a V-neck to
accommodate patients on ventilation or equipped with tracheostomies
and a pocket covering an enlarged aperture wherein the pocket is
designed to receive a heart monitor and the aperture is provided to
allow heart monitor wires to extend from the heart monitor through
the aperture in the front panel to the patient's chest.
[0013] Furthermore, the rear panel of this construction is not
provided with the conventional open back and tie arrangement, which
has traditionally caused both physical and psychological discomfort
to be experienced by the patient wearing the outdated conventional
dressing gown construction.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] These and other attributes of the invention will become more
clear upon a thorough study of the following description of the
best mode for carrying out the invention, particularly when
reviewed in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
[0015] FIG. 1 is an enlarged detail view of the apertured pocket
provided on the front panel of the gown member;
[0016] FIG. 2 is an enlarged detail view of the shoulder closure
arrangement found on both sides of the gown member;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the dressing gown
member; and,
[0018] FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of the dressing gown.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0019] As can be seen by reference to the drawings, and in
particularly to FIG. 1, the hospital dressing gown construction
that forms the basis of the present invention is designated
generally by the reference number 10. The construction involves a
dressing gown member 20 having a rear panel 30 fixedly and
releasably connected to a front panel 40 which includes a pocket
flap 50.
[0020] As can best be appreciated by reference to FIGS. 3 and 4,
both the rear panel 30 and the front panel 40 have a generally
T-shaped configuration wherein the stem portions 31 41 of the
T-shaped configuration are dimensioned to cover the back and front
respectively of the patient's torso and the cross-arms 32 42 and 33
43 correspond to the back and front of the garment sleeves.
[0021] While the overall dimensions and configurations of the rear
30 and front 40 panels are generally the same, the rear panel 30 is
provided with a conventional rounded neck opening 34 whereas the
front panel 40 is provided with a V-shaped neck opening 44.
[0022] In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, the torso portion 41 of the
front panel 40 is further provided with an enlarged aperture 45
that is covered by the pocket flap 50 wherein the pocket flap 50 is
dimensioned to receive a heart monitor (not shown) and the enlarged
aperture 45 in the front panel 40 accommodates the passage of heart
monitor wires from the patient's torso through the aperture 45 to
the heart monitor.
[0023] Turning now to FIGS. 2 through 4, it can be seen that the
upper portion of the rear and front panels are provided with two
pairs of cooperating hook and loop fasteners 36'/46' which extend
across the top edge of the sleeves 32/42 and 33/43 of the garment
construction 10, and one of the opposed sides of the front 40 and
rear 30 panels is provided with an additional pair of cooperating
hook and loop fasteners 37/47.
[0024] Still referring to FIGS. 2 through 4, it can be seen that
the other of the opposed sides of the front 40 and rear 30 panels
is provided with a permanent seam 38/48 and the bottom edges of the
sleeves 32/42 and 33/43 are likewise provided with permanent seams
39'/49' and 39/49.
[0025] By now it should be appreciated that the hospital gown
construction 10 of this invention has a number of functional
features not found in the conventional open backed hospital gown.
To begin with, the V-shaped front panel neck opening 44 provides a
much more comfortable fit for patients with tracheostomies or those
connected to a ventilator. In the conventional open back
construction, the ties are normally left open due to the fact that
the act of engaging the ties interferes with the trach or
ventilator tubing.
[0026] In addition, the sleeve closures 36/46 36'/46' and side
closure 37/47 permit the gown construction 10 of this invention to
be slipped over the patient's head followed by an engagement of the
aforementioned closures; and, the fact the back panel 30 does not
have a vertical opening formed therein addresses the patient's need
for personal privacy while still providing virtual unlimited access
to the patient's body through the aforementioned closures, openings
and front panel aperture.
[0027] Although only an exemplary embodiment of the invention has
been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will
readily appreciate that many modifications are possible without
materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of
this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to
be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the
following claims.
[0028] Having thereby described the subject matter of the present
invention, it should be apparent that many substitutions,
modifications, and variations of the invention are possible in
light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that
the invention as taught and described herein is only to be limited
to the extent of the breadth and scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *