Forearm Support Board For Intravenous Injections

Abstract

A disposable forearm support board for supporting an arm hand and fingers for intravenous feeding or the like. The arm board includes a flat substantially rigid core member of suitable width and length to fit comfortably the underside of the forearm and hand of a patient, the core member being immediately encased on all sides by an envelope sealed around the core member, the envelope comprising confronting panels of material sealed at their periphery and at least one of which comprises a cushioning material most advantageously polyurethane foam or similar material.

Description

This invention relates generally to a means for supporting the arm and hand of a patient for intravenous feeding or the like, and more particularly to a disposable arm board unit for use in hospitals or clinics.

Heretofore, many different forearm support boards have been used for the purpose of supporting a patient's hand and forearm during intravenous feeding or the like, but these arm boards left much to be desired from the standpoint of cost and convenience of use. In many cases, the forearm support boards are fabricated at the hospital or clinic when needed by nurses or other employees by using various available materials such as cardboard, wood, cotton, gauze, tape and the like to fashion a suitable device for a particular patient. There is presently on the market various different types of forearm support boards which hospitals and clinics may purchase but these units leave much to be desired.

It is an object of this invention to provide a forearm support board which includes all or most of the features of the more expensive board boards such as padding and a continuous outer casing and yet can be manufactured at such a low cost that it can be disposed of after one or two uses.

Briefly, the forearm support board of this invention provides a readily deformable and padded arm and hand receiving surface formed by a foam material made of such materials as polyethylene, polystyrene, polyurethane or polyvinylchloride foam, secured directly over a rigid board by heat sealing the periphery thereof to a sheet of material on the bottom of the board. The foam material automatically partially conforms to the configuration of the forearm and hand of a patient, and is of such inexpensive construction that it can be a single or double use disposable unit. By using the foam material to form both the padded support for the forearm support board and part of a readily sealable envelope for the rigid member, the cost of the board is materially reduced over boards of prior construction of similar quality. Also, the porous foam material allows air to circulate between the patient's arm and the support board thus reducing or eliminating sweating of the arm of the patient when in contact with such support board.

Other objects, advantages and features of this invention will be more fully realized and understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals throughout the various views of the drawings are intended to designate similar elements or components.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the forearm support board unit of this invention fastened to a patient's arm;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the forearm support board unit of this invention not fastened to a patient;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view similar to that of FIG. 3 but showing another form of this invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the construction of the outer edge portions of the confronting sheet members of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the construction of the outer edge portions of the confronting sheet members of FIG. 4.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the forearm support board of this invention is designated generally by reference numeral 10 and is shown fastened to the forearm and hand of a patient designated by reference numeral 12. The forearm support board 10 is secured in position, for example, by bands of tape 14 and 16 which is the customary way of fastening forearm support boards of this type. The forearm support board 10 has particular utility when used for intravenous injections at the back of the hand for supplying fluid medication to the patient through a flexible tube 18. However, it will be understood that the forearm support board of this invention may be used for various other purposes, as for example, splints or the like.

As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the forearm support board 10 has a soft foam rubberlike covering layer 20 of material of suitable thickness forming the upper arm engaging surface thereof and a lower sheetlike layer 22 which, together with the covering layer 20, completely encase a rigid core member 24. The covering layer 20 is most advantageously made of a heat sealable cushioning material like polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinylchloride or polyurethane foam. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lower layer 22 is most desirably formed of a thin heat-sealed sheet of synthetic material. The covering layer 20 immediately overlies the rigid core member 24 and the peripheral edge portions of the covering and lower layers 20 and 22 extend a slight distance beyond the edges of the rigid core member 24 where they are heat sealed together. The heat sealing is most advantageously carried out by high frequency or induction heating. When polyurethane is used as a covering layer, to provide a readily tearable seal the polyurethane foam is an open cell foam impregnated with polyvinylchloride and the lower layer is a polyvinylchloride sheet or film. As best seen in FIG. 5, the confronting edge portion 20a of the covering layer 20 forms a downwardly and outwardly turned portion 20b which partially embraces the rigid core member 24 about the periphery thereof, and the confronting edge portion 22a of the lower layer 22 forms an upwardly and outwardly turned portion 22b in abutting confronting relation with the portion 20b of the covering layer 20 and is heat sealed thereto at 26. Therefore, the lower layer 22 also partially embraces the rigid core member 24 and together with the covering layer 22 form an envelope which preferably tightly encases the rigid core member 24.

An alternate form 10a of this invention is shown in FIGS. 4 and 6 wherein the lower layer 22 of FIGS. 3 and 5 is replaced by a soft, heat sealable, foam rubberlike layer 28 similar to that of the covering layer 20. Here the lower layer 28 includes a confronting edge portion 28a which forms an upwardly turned portion 28b (FIG. 6) in abutting relation with the downwardly turned portion 20b of the covering layer 20. These cushioning layers 20 and 28 are heat sealed together about their periphery outwardly of the rigid core member 24, the heat seal being indicated by reference numeral 30.

Accordingly, a forearm support board constructed in accordance with this invention is relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture and, therefore, is disposable without incurring undue cost to the user.

In view of the foregoing detailed description together with the accompanying drawings, it will be understood that variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of this invention.

Claims

I claim:

1. A forearm support board for supporting a forearm and hand for intravenous feeding or the like, the forearm support board including a flat substantially rigid core member of suitable width and length to fit comfortably the underside of the forearm and hand of a patient, the core member being immediately encased on all sides by an envelope sealed around the core member, the envelope comprising confronting panels of material sealed together at their periphery and at least one of said confronting panels comprises a cushioning material.

2. The forearm support board of claim 1 wherein both of said confronting panels of material of the envelope are made of said cushioning material.

3. The forearm support board of claim 1 wherein said confronting panels of material are of thermoplastic material and are melted into sealed relation at their periphery.

4. The forearm support board of claim 1 wherein said cushioning material is a porous foam material permitting air to circulate beneath a forearm supported thereon.

5. The forearm support board of claim 2 wherein each of said confronting panels is a porous foam material permitting air to circulate beneath a forearm supported thereon.