GB2294883A

GB2294883A - Flexible patient transfer sheet with looped handles

Info

Publication number: GB2294883A
Application number: GB9421343A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Howard Simler; William Maurice Hatton; Valerie Susan Hopkins
Original assignee: Daniels & Co Ltd A C
Current assignee: Daniels & Co Ltd A C
Priority date: 1994-10-24
Filing date: 1994-10-24
Publication date: 1996-05-15
Also published as: GB9421343D0

Abstract

The flexible patient transfer sheet 1 has opposing handles 3, 4, 5 formed from a single loop of flexible webbing located at intervals on said sheet. The sheet 1 may be used with a patient transfer board to transfer a patient, e.g. from a bed to a trolley. In use, the sheet 1 is placed beneath the patient and the operator slides the patient over the transfer board onto the trolley by pulling any of the webbing handles 3, 4, 5. This method of moving the patient reduces the amount of leaning required by the operator and thus risk of injury. The sheet may be colour coded and may also have a foot pocket and cross pieces to facilitate emergency use. To aid storage, burr fasteners 8 are provided on the handles to enable them to be folded in and temporarily attached to the sheet 1. <IMAGE>

Description

PATIENT TRANSFER SHEET The invention relates to a patient transfer sheet.

In a hospital it is often necessary to transfer an incapacitated person or patient between different horizontal supporting surfaces such as a hospital bed, a patient trolley, or an operating table. Patient transfer boards in conjunction with draw sheets are commonly used for this purpose. A draw sheet is placed under the patient and then the board is placed partially beneath the patient lying on, say, a bed so that it provides a bridge to another surface, say a trolley. Once the board has been so positioned nursing staff or other hospital personnel can slide the patient across the board from the bed to the trolley using the draw sheet. In use, once the board has been properly positioned, the nurse leans over the trolley, grabs hold of the side of the draw sheet and pulls the draw sheet and thus the patient towards her.

The draw sheet thus facilitates sliding of the patient across the transfer board. Nevertheless, injuries to personnel can still occur when a draw sheet is used as the personnel reach across the bed or trolley during the transfer. Furthermore, the present use of draw sheets does not meet the European Community regulation that personnel lean no more than 100 from the vertical during a patient transfer.

The present invention aims to overcome or at least reduce some of the abovementioned problems.

According to the invention there is provided a patient transfer sheet comprising a sheet area with a plurality of handles extending outwardly from each of at least two opposing edges of the sheet area.

The handles may be arranged in handle pairs formed as a single piece which extend across the sheet area between the opposing edges.

Advantageously, burr fasteners are provided on the handles and at portions of said opposing edges to enable the free ends of each of the handles to be secured to the sheet portion.

The above and further features of the invention will become clear from consideration of the following description of an embodiment of the invention which is given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows a top plan view of a patient transfer sheet.

Referring to the single accompanying drawing there is shown a patient transfer sheet shown generally at 1 comprising a sheet area 2 which may be made from any suitable material for example a 50% / 50% mixture of polyester and cotton. The transfer sheet further comprises plural handle pairs 3a and 3b, 4a and 4b, and 5a and 5b. The handle pairs are formed from a webbing of, for example, stitched white preshrunk terylene which are stitched to one surface ("the underside") of the sheet area 2 as shown. Each handle is formed as a loop from a single, continuous length of webbing. Thus, the patient transfer sheet comprises a plurality of handle pairs extending outwardly from opposing sides 6, 7 of the sheet area 2.

It will be appreciated that the dimensions of the patient transfer sheet are dependent on the size of patients to be transferred and are therefore arbitrary. Typically, the transfer sheet will have a width, between the opposing sides 6, 7 of about 60cm and a length of 190cm. In order to provide sufficient purchase for hospital personnel, while meeting the EC requirements of less than 100 bend from the vertical, the handles will conveniently extend by about 40cm from the sides 6, 7 of the sheet area. The width of each handle across the loop is typically 26cm, and the handle pairs may be evenly spaced along the length of the transfer sheet.

Each handle has stitched to the end most distant from the edge 6, 7 from which it extends a strip of burr fastener material 8, such as Velcro (trade mark), and a corresponding strip of burr fastener material (9, 10) is secured to an edge portion of the underside of the sheet area. The provision of a burr fastener for each handle enables the handles to be tidied away by attaching the burr material 8 at the free ends of the handles to the underside of the sheet area once the patient has been transferred. This removes the danger of objects becoming snagged in the handles when the handles are not in use, which is of particular concern in an operating theatre for example.

The patient transfer sheet may be modified to include a foot pocket (not shown) at one end thereof to enable the sheet to be used in the transfer of patients down stairs or ladders during say a fire evacuation.

In addition, each handle may be modified to include a crosspiece (not shown) positioned say at 50mm from the corresponding edge 6, 7 of the sheet area. These crosspieces provide short handles for the patient transfer sheet which further enables the sheet to be used during say a fire evacuation.

The sheet may be supplied to different hospitals in respective different colours to enable the owner of the sheet to be identified by the colour of the sheet.

Such colour coding is a convenient way of avoiding confusion when sheets are sent out to a laundry for cleaning.

Having thus described the present invention by reference to a preferred embodiment it is to be well understood that the embodiment in question is exemplary only and that modifications and variations such as will occur to those possessed of the appropriate knowledge and skills may be made without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention and equivalents thereof.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A patient transfer sheet comprising a sheet area with a plurality of handle portions extendable outwardly from at least one side of said sheet portion.

2. A patient transfer sheet according to claim 1 comprising at least three handle portions extendable outwardly from the said at least one side.

3. A patient transfer sheet according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sheet portion has two ends and a middle, and at least one of said handle portions is located in the area of said middle.

4. A patient transfer sheet according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the sheet portion has two ends and at least one of said handle portions is located adjacent one of said ends.

5. A patient transfer sheet according to claim 4, wherein a handle portion is located adjacent each said end.

6. A patient transfer sheet according to any of claims 1-5, wherein a plurality of handle portions are located on each side of said sheet portion.

7. A patient transfer sheet according to claim 6, wherein the handle portions are arranged in pairs formed as single pieces which extend across the sheet portion between the sides.

8. A patient transfer sheet according to any of claims 1-7, wherein each said handle portion comprises a loop of flexible webbing.

9. A patient transfer sheet according to any of claims 1-8, wherein said sheet portion comprises a sheet of flexible material.

10. A patient transfer sheet according to any of claims 1-9, wherein burr fasteners are provided on the handle portions and on said sheet portion to enable the free ends of each handle portion to be secured to the sheet portion.

11. A patient transfer sheet according to any of claims 1-10, wherein each side of the sheet portion is formed to define a rod receiving portion to enable the sheet to be converted to a stretcher.