AU644903B2

AU644903B2 - Patient restrainer

Info

Publication number: AU644903B2
Application number: AU85513/91A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Ronald Brian Carrington
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-10-01
Filing date: 1991-10-01
Publication date: 1993-12-23
Anticipated expiration: 2011-10-01
Also published as: AU8551391A

Description

644903 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

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6 0 Name of Applicant: RONALD BRIAN CARRINGTON Actual Inventor: RONALD BRIAN CARRINGTON Address for Service: R K MADDERN ASSOCIATES, 345 King William Street, Adelaide, South' Australia, Australia Invention title: PATIENT RESTRAINER Details of Associated Provisional Application No: PK 2547 dated 1st October, 1990 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me.

This invention relates to a patient restrainer which is useful for restraining patients in such a way as to reduce the risk of patient injury, for example falling from a bed or chair or other body support.

Restrainers are in common use, but those presently used in public hospitals and nursing homes are only moderately effective in the prevention of patients falling from beds and chairs. One such device is a waistcoat type restrainer which is often difficult to apply and remove, partly because it is necessary for the patient's arm to be placed through an armhole or sleeve. Particularly when a patient is agitated, or is without full use of the function of either one or both of his arms, the requirement to feed a patient's arms through armholes is very difficult for the nurse and stressful for the patient.

00 .0r *°*.More difficulties arise with patients who are receiving intravenous fluids through a vein in either one of his arms, since applying or removing the device must be achieved S without disturbing the intravenous fluid bag and measuring chamber, and if this is required to be fed through an armhole in many instances it is not possible to avoid disturbance. A known device is secured to a patient on a bed or chair by means of two ribbon or tape type ties, one situated on each side. The ties are usually passed across the front of the patient, one tie being passed through a slit in the device and secured to the bed or chair on the opposite side, and the tie is secured in the same manner except that there is sometimes no slit. With this arrangement however some patients are able to slip themselves out through the bottom of the device, others untie the ties if they are able to, and there have been instances wherein patients have climbed over cot sides, and from the bed while still attached to the restrainer. When secured to a chair, some patients are able to lean forward sufficiently to tip the chair over, whereupon they fall to the floor with the chair on top of them. This even includes recliner type chairs. These incidents sometimes result in injury and consequent pain to the patient.

An object of this invention is to provide a restrainer which will minimise the problems presently encountered in applying and removing the device, and which will be capable of more effectively restraining the patients and reducing the risk of injury and pain.

Briefly in this invention the patient restrainer has a panel of flexible material of general rectangular shape, there being a central aperture of size to place the restrainer over a patient's head with the panel supported by the patient's *15 shoulders and front and back panel portions draping e respectively over the front and back of the patient's torso, and there are provided reinforcing straps which extend laterally across the torso of the patient, and ties on at least :0:0V: one of the straps which enable that strap to be tied with respect to another strap, and also to be tied with respect to a chair or bed.

0 o0.. More specifically, a patient restrainer comprises a panel of flexible material having a general rectangular peripheral shape, a central aperture of size to accommodate a patient's head so that the panel may be supported by the patient's oeooo S shoulders with front and back panel portions draping respectively over the front and back of the patient's torso, both said portions having at least two respective reinforcing straps which are affixed laterally to the panel intermediate its ends, and extend laterally across the patient's torso, and ties extending from the ends of the straps on one said panel portion and engageable with the retention means at the ends of the corresponding other said straps on the other said panel portion to retain said panel portions firmly against the patient's torso, the ties being of sufficient length to also j. engage a body support when used by the patient, and the uppermost and the lowermost of the said lateral main reinforcing straps being sufficiently spaced one above the other to restrain the patient from slumping or falling forwardly, when the ties are engaged with a support for the patient's back.- 6/ to *oo 0o

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The applicant is aware of limited prior art, the most relevant of which appears to be the Australian specification 555089 (28927/84), but that restraining device, like other prior art described above, required a patient's arms to be placed through armholes in a vest-like jacket. However with the arrangement of this invention, the "armholes" are formed by merely joining the front and back portions of the panel together with the ties, and this can be achieved without any disturbance at all of any intravenous system which is attached to the patient.

Sometimes infirm patients are actually manacled to chairs or beds and this is stressful to the patient and interferes excessively with the patient's freedom of movement. With the object of improving the acceptability of arm restraining means, in an embodiment of the invention the restrainer is provided with a further strap from which ties S extend, the further strap extending laterally near the central aperture from at least one of the draping portions of 20 the panel. Still further, in another embodiment there is :0 provided as an accessory at least one arm restraint sleeve made of flexible material and provided with fastening means ~at its upper end so that, after the draping portions of the panel have been tied, the sleeve can be positioned over an arm with considerable ease and secured to the central part of the panel where it drapes over the shoulders of the patient.

re The sleeve can be provided with apertures for access for 0003 taking blood pressure or for attending to intravenous injection devices. Desirably the sleeve is made a little longer than the arm of a patient so that the patient's hand is contained within the sleeve.

Still further, associated as an accessory in another embodiment there is provided an incontinence pad retainer, the incontinence pad retainer having a replaceable incontinence pad insertable in pockets near the retainer ends, and the retainer ends also have ties which provide means whereby it can be secured to the lower ends of the draping portions of the panel. In several instances, the ties are replaced by touch and hold fastening means such as for example that sold under the registered trade mark VELCRO.

While the invention need not necessarily include all of the above features or accessories embodiments are described hereunder in some detail with reference to and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which: Fig 1 is a "stretch-out" view of the flexible panel, Fig 2 is a front view of the flexible panel when folded, Fig 3 is a rear view of a flexible panel when folded, Fig 4 shows the panei of Figs 1, 2 and 3 attached by ties to a patient, Fig 5 shows an alternative attachment means for the ties, and represents a second embodiment, for tFig 6 illustrates on a larger scale the attachment means for the ties of Fig 20 Fig 7 illustrates the restraining sleeve arrangement which is an optional accessory to the invention, and s* Fig 8 illustrates the incontinence pad retaining device which is also an optional accessory for use with the invention.

Referring first to the embodiment of Figs 1 through to 4, a patient restrainer panel 10 is, when stretched out as shown in Fig 1, of general rectangular peripheral shape, having a central aperture 11 which is of size to accommodate ~0 a patient's head so that the panel may be placed over the head of the patient and the fold 12 may support the panel to drape from the patient's shoulders with a front panel portion 13 (Fig 2) draping over the front of a patient's torso as shown in Fig 4 and a rear panel portion 14 (Fig 3) draping over the back of the patient's torso.

Both the portions 13 and 14 are provided with upper and lower main laterally extending straps, one located over the lower part of the patient's chest and the other over his abdomen, the straps on the portion 14 being designated 15 and 16 and the straps on the rear panel portion being designated 17 and 18, and the front straps are joined by short vertical straps 19 and 20 which provide tie retention means, the ends of straps 19 and 20 not being fully joined to the lateral straps 15 and 16 but being spaced therefrom to provide gaps through which upper and lower ties 21 and 22 extend respectively from the rear straps 17 and 18 for both joining the panel portions 13 and 14 together and also for joining them to a chair 24 (Fig In having two straps, or in the alternative one very wide strap, extending laterally across the torso of the patient, as illustrated in Fig 4 the patient is restrained from slumping forwardly if he is infirm.

In the first embodiment, in addition to the main restraint straps 15, 16, 17 and 18, there are provided two 20 further smaller straps 26 and 27 which extend laterally respectively across the front and rear panel portions 13 and 14, and each of these straps also has tie retention means, being provided with apertures 28 at its ends, and these apertures 28 enable a further shoulder tie 29 to extend from the straps 26 and 27 (only one shoulder tie being shown in F-g 1 but frequently two would be used), and the shoulder tie 29 can partially restrain the arm of the patient without distressing the patient, and also if necessary pass over portion of the structure of chair 24 in order to gently restrain the upper part of the patient's torso.

0 The embodiment of Figs 1 through to 4 is slightly varied in the embodiment of Figs 5 and 6 wherein the restrainer panel 10 again has the aperture 11, the upper reinforcing straps 26 and 27 and their ties 29, and the laterally extending lower reinforcing straps 15, 16, 17 and 18 and their ties' 21 and 22 as in the first embodiment. However each of the straps 15 and 16 terminates at its ends in a retaining loop 31 (also shown in Fig 1) and as best seen in Fig 6, the tie 21 (or 22) can pass through the retaining loop 31, and this obviates the need for the short vertical straps Fig 6 is a rear view which shows how the loops 31 are attached to the rear of the strap 15 (or 16).

Fig 7 illustrates an arm restraint sleeve 35 the upper end of which is provided with fastening means which, as illustrated, are ties 36 which can co-operate with the shoulder tie 29 and the ties 21, or in the alternative use can be made of touch and hold material as referred to above for temporarily retaining the sleeve 35 over the arm of a patient. Sometimes there is a need for a patient's blood pressure to be taken and to provide access for this purpose, the restrai -leeve 35 contains a slot 37 at the locality of the patient's ebow, and access for taking pulses is provided by a second slot 38 in the lower end of the sleeve.

Desirably the sleeve is made a little longer than the patient's arm so that his hand is contained within the sleeve.

.0 In Fig 8 there is provided a retainer 41 which has four see 6 securing ties 42 extending therefrom, and by which the retainer 41 can be retained with respect to the ties 22, and the retainer 21 comprises upper and lower sheets which are secured together for most of their length but the upper said sheet is provided with slits 43 through which the ends of the incontinent pad 44 extend between the sheets and loosely retain the pad in position.

A consideration of the above embodiment will indicate that the invention provides a patient restrainer which is easier to use, less stressful to the patient, less likely to enable the patient to disengage himself or to cause a chair to topple, and which is adaptable for the normal accessories which are required for infirm patients.

Claims

2. A patient restrainer according to claim 1 wherein said tie retention means comprise vertically extending straps which are o secured to said lateral main straps as to provide gaps 25 through which respective said t~ s extend.
3. A patient restrainer according to claim 1 wherein said tie retention means comprise loops extending fro-i the ends of a said main reinforcing strap.
4. A patient restcainer according to any preceding claim comprising a further laterally extending strap on one of said panel portions located adjacent said aperture and also having tie retention means. A patient restrainer according to claim 4 wherein each said panel portion has a said further laterally extending strap thereon.
6. A patient restrainer according to any preceding claim further comprising an arm restraint sleeve having retention means at its upper end co-operable with said panel to releasably retain the sleeve thereto.
7. A patient restrainer according to any preceding claim further comprising an incontinent pad retainer having upper and lower sheets, the upper sheet having slits through which ends of an incontinent pad my pass, the retainer having further retention means co-operable with said panel to releasably retain it thereto.
8. A method of restraining a patient to a body support (for example a chair or bed), comprising positioning a panel of flexible material according to claim 1 over a patient to have his head extending through said aperture and the panel supported by the patient's shoulders with front and back panel portions draping respectively over the front and back of the S patient's torso, retaining said panel portions firmly against the patient's 25 torso by interconnecting said main reinforcing straps with said S ties, and also securing said ties to said body support. *o
9. A patient restrainer substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. A method of restraining a patient to a body support substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Dated this 18th day of October, 1993. RONALD BRIAN CARRINGTON By his Patent Attorneys ABSTRACT A patient restrainer comprising a panel (10) of flexible material of general rectangular shape, there being a central aperture (11) of size to place the restrainer over a patient's head with the panel (10) supported by the patient's shoulders, and front (13) and back (14) panel portions draping respectively over the front and back of the patient's torso, and there are provided reinforcing straps (15, 16, 17, 18) which extend laterally across the torso of the patient, and ties (21, 22) on one of the straps which en bles that strap to be tied with respect to another strap, and also to be tied with respect to a chair or bed. 0 e a 0) e 0o 0 *o S 0 o o