GB2159047A - Arrangement for the support and displacement of a person on a base - Google Patents

Abstract

An arrangement for the support and displacement of a person in, for example, a recumbent position on a base, comprising a sleeve-shaped laminated carpet (10). The carpet has a certain thickness for softening the support of the person who is placed on the arrangement and has minimal frictional resistance along internal surfaces of the carpet impacting against each other. The carpet is in a folded together condition with the person supported on the latter, adapted to be subjected to a rolling movement externally relative to the base and internally relative to an opposite inner surface. A separate cover (11) which is made either of disposable material or of easily cleanable, preferably autoclavable, but fluid-tight cloth material, surrounds relatively tightly the sleeve-shaped carpet (10) and is adapted to be carried along by the carpet in its rolling movement. In one embodiment an internal smooth cloth layer of the carpet is fluid- tight while an external cloth layer and an intermediate layer of hollow fibre material or another filling material, are readily permeable to fluid. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Arrangements for the support and displacement of a person on a base This invention relates to arrangements for the support and displacement of a person in, for example, a recumbent position on a base.

Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Patent Specification No. 4,051,565 and while effective in use has, nevertheless, not found substantial practical application. The reason for this is that the arrangement is so cumbersome and uneconomic to clean that it cannot be used in conventional situations. For many purposes of use, it is essential to effect cleaning (autoclaving) after use. As a consequence of the relatively large thickness and relativelytightstructure of the carpet, this presents considerable practical problems. For one thing, there is a need for an external structure which is sufficiently tight to keep out moisture and dirt.In addition, there is need for a solution which is easy to clean (sterilise) after use, that is to say firstly to remove fluid, dirt and the like by a washing process together with removing humidity, which must have penetrated into the interior of the carpet, in a subsequent drying process. Hitherto, it has not been possible to satisfy the practical needs in a simple and effective manner.

An object of the present invention is an arrangement which can be used in a simple and effective manner in a hospital environment (operation room, ward, and the like) as well as in a street milieu (accident location) or for handling corpses or for use at other job locations of current interest and, in turn and order, at different job locations, without having to subject the whole arrangement to a thorough cleaning (autoclaving).

Accordingly, the present invention resides in an arrangement for the support and displacement of a person on a base and which comprises a laminated carpet folded in the shape of a sleeve for softening the support of said person with its internally impacting surfaces exhibiting minimal frictional resistance and said carpet with said person thereon being adapted to be subjected to a rolling movement externally relatively to said base and internally relative to an opposing inner surface, and a replaceable cover enclosing said sleeve-shaped carpet relatively tightly enabling said cover to accompany said rolling movement of said carpet.

By using a separate cover formed, for example, of cloth, outside a sleeve-shaped carpet, several advantages are obtained. A most essential advantage consists in being able to avoid cleaning (autoclaving) of the sleeve-shaped carpet itself between each job. In other words, after a first job, the carpet will be able to be made ready in an easy and rapid manner for a new job, by quite simply drawing the carpet out of the soiled cover and inserting it in a new (sterile) cover for a new application. By this, one avoids an otherwise cumbersome, labour-demanding and timedemanding rough cleaning and subsequent recleaning with associated autoclaving and drying of the carpet. This involves, in turn, that after each job, one only needs to clean the relatively thinwalled, cloth-formed cover, instead of having to clean the whole of the thick-walled sleeve-shaped carpet.

There is also a possibility of selecting a cover with special properties for each individual use. In certain instances, it can be of the greatest significance that the cover is fluid-tight (and bacteria-tight) and, in other instances, that it is particularly stable to heat or will exhibit other precise characteristics in order to be utilised in a street environment or in otherjob locations of interest. In other further instances, it is of considerable importance that the cover is easy to clean and easy to autoclave. If necessary, several such characteristics can be combined in one and the same cloth material so that the cover can be employed in a street environment equally well as in hospital surroundings.

It is also convenient to use covers made of a material designed for disposal after use, for example, "non-woven" material, paper fibres, disposal plastics or other suitable material.

In practice, one can manage with a single sleeve shaped carpet together with a supply or replaceable covers where, usually, only the cover is subjected to cleaning (autoclaving) after use, while the carpet is only sporadically subjected to a cleaning for conventional maintenance.

In one embodiment of the invention, it is possible to protect the carpet in the cover in a ready and simple manner due to the cover having a larger sleeve length than the sleeve length of the carpet in order, thereby, to be able to project a distance freeendingly outside end edges of the carpet so as to protect these against dirt and the like.

If desired, the cover can be closed at the one end and at the other end can be easily closed off with catch or grip locks or other locking arrangements.

It is thus possible to employ a sleeve-shaped carpet of laminated design which, in itself, is easy to clean (autoclave), the carpet being able to be effectively protected against fluid, dirt and the like by means of the cover. Such a carpet may have only an external cloth layer and an intermediate layer of hollow fibre material or another suitable filling material readily permeable to fluid (steam).

In order that the invention can be more clearly understood, convenient embodiments thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic end view of an arrangement for the support and displacement of a recumbent person on a base showing that person in initial and laterally displaced positions, Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an arrangement according to a first embodiment, Fig. 3 is a view, similar to Fig. 2, of an arrangement according to a second embodiment, and Fig. 4 is a scrap vertical section of an arrangement of another embodiment.

Referring to Fig. 1, a sleeve-shaped carpet 10, having a design corresponding generally to the carpet as illustrated in U.S. Patent Specification 4,051,565, is shown indicating at A a person who, by means of this carpet, is displaced laterally from the position shown in full lines to that shown in broken lines. The carpet 10 is, as shown in Fig. 2, surrounded by a sleeve-shaped cover 11 of clothformed material which fits closely disposed and relatively tightly to the outer surface of the carpet 10.

The arrangement can be designed with various lengths all according to the purpose of use. In a first embodiment (Fig. 2) where a patient is to be displaced in a recumbent position on a base, there can be employed, for example, a sleeve-shaped carpet 10 having a sleeve breadth of about 0.5 m and having a sleeve length of 2 m together with a cover 11 having a sleeve length of 2.4-2.5 m. In a second embodiment (Fig. 3) where a patient is to be displaced in a sitting or standing condition on a base, there can be employed, for example, a sleeveshaped carpet 1 0a of essentially quadratic form, that is to say having a sleeve breadth of about 0.5 m and having a sleeve length of about 0.5 m. In the lastmentioned instance, the cover 11 a can have a sleeve length of from about 0.5 m to about 0.9 m.Such an arrangement of quadratic design can be employed for lateral as well as for longitudinal displacement of a patient on a base In addition, the arrangement can also be employed forturning the patient 90 on the base.

The cover 11 (11a) is designed to be drawn on or drawn off the carpet 10 (10a) in an especially simple and ready manner and can, in a conventional construction, consist of an open-ending sleeve.

Provision is made for the cover 11 a) to project, for example, 225 cm outside each of the end edges of the carpet 10 (10a) so that end edges of the carpet are protected against laterial intrusion of dirt and moisture. Alternatively, the cover can be provided with a first closed end and a second closeable end, for example, an end which can be closed off with a catch or grip lock or another suitable locking device.

The cover is made of pliable, easily handleable and fluid- and bacteria-tight cloth material. An especially suitable cloth material for the purpose can consist of a modern, comfortable material which is employed, for example, as rainwear material. This material is boilable, fluid-tight (and bacteria-tight), soft and relatively wear-resistant and easy to handle. The use can also be considered of coarse, plastic-coated tarpaulin material, especially for use in a street environment where big demands are placed on resistance to wear and ability to withstand strains from a relatively rough and uneven base. Application can also be considered, especially for use in operation wards and in similar environments, of cloth material of the "Gortex" type which is formed of a laminate of finely woven Teflon (RTM) fibres.There can be employed, moreover, for one and the same sleeve-shaped carpet, different types of cover all according to the object of application and, if desired, one and the same carpet can be applied, in turn and order, at different use locations and, if desired, with different covers at each use location, without one having to clean the carpet each time on such subsequent use. It can be especially appropriate to apply covers in the form of disposable material, that is to say material which, if desired, can be thrown away after having been used once.

The cover can, if desired, be made of especially strong material and can, for example, have sewed on support bands in the form of nooses or loops, for example, at knee height and shoulder height so that the arrangement with one person resting on the latter can be raised and transported by four persons via such support bands. For example, a surrounding support band can be sewed permanently to the cover in a fastening region at each 20 cm of the periphery of the cover.

Such arrangements find particular application in connection with ambulance services and within the hospital environment and nursing homes. They are specially advantageous within geriatrics and especially in connection with the daily attendance of incontinent patients. These arrangements can also be considered for use on fire-injured patients and on patients who, for other reasons, must be treated with particular care and gentleness in recumbent positions. Furthermore, they find application, for example, in the transfer of movement-hampered and/or sick persons from bed to bathing lift and with wet body back from the bathing lift to the bed, without thereby wetting or dirtying the sleeveshaped carpet. The work is considerably simplified by only having to change the cover between each application of the arrangement.

As shown in Fig. 4, there is employed a sleeveshaped carpet of a special design which is made possible by use of a cover as described above. The sleeve-shaped carpet is made, in a manner known per se, of an outer layer of cloth material 13 and an inner layer 14 of cloth material together with an intermediate layer 15 which gives the carpet sufficient volume and the elasticity to conform to possible irregularities in the base. The inner layer 14 is of a construction corresponding to that described in U.S. Patent Specification 4,051,565, that is to say consisting of a smooth (little friction resistance) and fluid-tight cloth material. For example, the cloth material 14 can consist of nylon-silicon, elastomer material. The outer layer 13, on the other hand, is made of autoclavable cotton material of a quality corresponding to that which is used in conventional operation clothes. The filling material layer 15 is made of flame-proof, boilable material consisting of polyester fibres (hollow fibres), which has low absorption ability but is correspondingly easy to dry after autoclaving. The hollow fibres extend in the thickness of the carpet and are preferably connected endways with the outer layer and the inner layer of the carpet respectively. By means of the outer cover, the carpet can be spared of dirt and moisture under different conditions of use and nevertheless the carpet, when it is to be cleaned, can be autoclaved and dried in a rapid and simple manner. At the same time, the carpet can exhibit the desired properties for displacement of a person on the arrangement relative to the base in a gentle and simple manner.

Claims (8)

1. An arrangement for the support and displacement of a person on a base and which comprises a laminated carpet folded in the shape of a sleeve for softening the support of said person with its internally impacting surfaces exhibiting minimal frictional resistance and said carpet with said person thereon being adapted to be subjected to a rolling movement externally relative to said base and internally relative to an opposing inner surface, and a replaceable cover enclosing said sleeve-shaped carpet relatively tightly enabling said coverto accompany said rolling movement or said carpet.

2. An arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the cover is longer than the sleeve-shaped carpet thereby protecting end edges of the latter.

3. An arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cover is made of a material designed for disposal after use.

4. An arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cover is made of a fluid-tight cloth material readily cleanable for reuse.

5. An arrangement according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the carpet consists of an internal layer composed on fluid-tight, smooth cloth material, an external layer composed of cloth material and an intermediate layer of filling material, both external and intermediate layers being permeable to fluid.

6. An arrangement according to claim 5, wherein the filling material of the intermediate layer is hollow fibre material.

7. An arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the folded carpet and its cover are dimensioned to support the person in a recumbent position.

8. Arrangements for the support and displacement of a person on a base and as claimed in claim 1, said arrangement being substantially as described herein with particular reference to Figs. 2 and 4 or Figs. 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.