US20240172814A1

US20240172814A1 - Breast Support Medical Gowns

Info

Publication number: US20240172814A1
Application number: US18/521,933
Authority: US
Inventors: Ashley Bietz
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2022-11-28
Filing date: 2023-11-28
Publication date: 2024-05-30

Abstract

A breast support medical gown includes an outer garment and a brassiere. The outer garment comprises an outer garment opening to allow body access for medical examinations and operations. The brassiere is permanently or removably attached to the outer garment providing wearers with a sense of self-dignity and breast support. The breast support medical gown can be worn with the outer garment opening facing forward or backward without comprising the brassiere's breast-supporting function. For a removably attached brassiere, a wearer may mix-match the sizes of an outer garment and a brassiere. The wearer may also wear the outer garment without a brassiere.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/428,351, filed Nov. 28, 2022, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure generally relates to medical garments and, more specifically, to devices, systems, and methods for providing breast support and security for wearers wearing medical garments without interfering with routine medical examinations and operations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A medical gown is a type of personal protective equipment used in health care settings. They are used to protect the wearer from the spreading and transferring of disease-causing microorganisms that could harm the wearer and other vulnerable patients.
Traditional medical gowns have been designed to put all hospital patients, regardless of their gender or condition(s), in the same type of gowns along with the hospital staff. Conventional gowns were also designed to maximize clinicians' access to wearers' bodies for medical needs and emergencies. However, one downside of conventional gowns is that wearers frequently feel they do not have sufficient body coverage and privacy.
Previous attempts have been made to provide wearers with a sense of self-dignity by offering a brassiere liner in labor, delivery, and breastfeeding outfits. However, such outfits usually comprise an overlapping front-opening-only structure with a waist-tightening mechanism (e.g., using a belt wrapping around a wearer's waist area). While such outfits provide a possible solution for female wearers in specific circumstances, they have not been widely adopted by hospitals and medical facilities because of their rigid and complicated structure and high manufacturing cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is an unmet need for medical gowns to provide wearers with a sense of dignity, mental well-being, and comfort and to simultaneously enable medical access to a wearer and ensure the confidentiality of a wearer's health and physical condition. In addition, it is desirable to maintain a uniform look in medical gowns. Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide for medical gowns and their manufacturing methods, offering medical accessibility, breast coverage and support, and uniform appearance.
Thus, it is one aspect of various embodiments of the present disclosure to ensure medical accessibility. In various embodiments, a hospital gown comprises an outer garment with a full-length opening. A wearer may wear a medical gown with a full-length opening either at the front or back, depending on clinicians' instruction and wearers' personal preference. One advantage of having the full-length opening is to offer clinicians easy access to the wearer's upper torso with sufficient coverage of the wearer's lower extremities.
It is one aspect of various embodiments of the present disclosure to devoid metal components. In various embodiments, a hospital gown comprises an outer garment and a brassiere. Both the outer garment and the brassiere are made with soft fabric such as cotton and linen. Neither the outer garment nor the brassiere comprises any metal or stiff component that can potentially interfere with medical examinations and procedures.
In various embodiments of the present disclosure, a closing mechanism is placed on a hospital gown's outer garment. Some embodiments feature two pairs of fabric ties attached to a full-length opening on an outer garment. This closing mechanism with a multi-point closing structure allows wearers to secure their medical gowns without blocking a clinician's access to body parts. Moreover, wearers and clinicians can freely choose to release one or more pairs of ties depending on their medical and personal needs. The closing mechanism can also be selected from a group comprising hook and loop material sold under the trademark VELCRO®, buckles, and snap fasteners.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure have an outer garment comprising short sleeves with a sleeve opening mechanism on each sleeve configured to enable clinician access to a wearer's upper torso without undressing the wearer. This sleeve opening mechanism is especially useful during a shoulder examination as a clinician only needs to open the sleeve opening mechanism without requesting the wearer to undress the entire upper body portion of a medical garment and expose a patient's breast area.
One aspect of various embodiments of the present disclosure is to provide medical gowns offering breast support so that wearers and wearers can feel more secure and comfortable.
In various embodiments, a medical gown comprises a brassiere underneath an outer garment. The brassiere is permanently attached to the outer garment through a securing mechanism, including but not limited to sewing, gluing, heat pressing, high-pressure processing, or using other adhesive mechanisms. One advantage of having a permanently attached brassiere is to reduce facilities' storage pressure as the medical gown comprising a brassiere can be stored with conventional gowns. Another advantage is a reduction in the chance of losing the brassiere parts during daily usage.
In other embodiments, a brassiere is removably attached to an outer garment through a brassiere attaching mechanism selected from a group comprising hook and loop material sold under the trademark VELCRO®, zippers, snaps, buttons, and clasps. Compared to permanently attached brassieres, medical gowns with removable brassieres can be worn by any gender, and wearers can readily mix-match the appropriate brassiere and gown sizes to receive better breast support based on their body shapes and health conditions.
Another aspect of various embodiments of the present disclosure is designed to protect wearers' confidentiality and privacy protection. It is important to protect the confidentiality of health conditions and the privacy of medical gown wearers, especially hospital patients.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure comprise medical gowns having an appearance consistent with traditional medical gowns. The outer appearance of such medical gowns is gender-neutral and identity neutral (i.e., minimizing the appearance differences between wearers and clinicians).
Some embodiments of the present disclosure comprise a concealing design of an inner brassiere, wherein the brassiere is attached underneath an outer garment without any inserted hard wire. There is little visual difference between a medical gown with or without the inner brassiere. Some embodiments comprise a brassiere made with the same or similar fabric as the outer garment.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure include medical gowns comprising an outer garment that is loose fitting with a straight-line side sewing and without an apparent waistline. One advantage is to minimize the showing of different body shapes of the wearers inside medical gowns. Further, the loose fitting allows wearers and wearers to easily conceal and carry medical devices underneath their medical gowns.
The phrases “at least one,” “one or more,” and “and/or,” as used herein, are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C,” “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” and “A, B, and/or C” means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B, and C together.
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities, dimensions, conditions, and so forth used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about”.
The term “a” or “an” entity, as used herein, refers to one or more of that entity. As such, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more,” and “at least one” can be used interchangeably herein.
The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Accordingly, the terms “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof can be used interchangeably herein.
It shall be understood that the term “means” as used herein shall be given its broadest possible interpretation in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112(f). Accordingly, a claim incorporating the term “means” shall cover all structures, materials, or acts set forth herein, and all of the equivalents thereof. Further, the structures, materials, or acts and the equivalents thereof shall include all those described in the summary of the invention, brief description of the drawings, detailed description, abstract, and claims themselves.
These and other advantages will be apparent from the disclosure of the invention(s) contained herein. The above-described embodiments, objectives, and configurations are neither complete nor exhaustive. The Summary of the Invention is neither intended nor should it be construed as being representative of the full extent and scope of the present invention. Moreover, references made herein to “the present invention” or aspects thereof should be understood to mean certain embodiments of the present invention and should not necessarily be construed as limiting all embodiments to a particular description. The present invention is set forth in various levels of detail in the Summary of the Invention as well as in the attached drawings and the Detailed Description and no limitation as to the scope of the present invention is intended by either the inclusion or non-inclusion of elements, components, etc. in this Summary of the Invention. Additional aspects of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the Detailed Description, particularly when taken together with the drawings.
It is to be appreciated that any feature described herein can be claimed in combination with any other feature(s) as described herein, regardless of whether the features come from the same described embodiment.
Any one or more aspects described herein can be combined with any other one or more aspects described herein. Any one or more features described herein can be combined with any other one or more features described herein. Any one or more embodiments described herein can be combined with any other one or more embodiments described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the general description of the invention given above and the detailed description of the drawings given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a breast support medical gown according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a breast support medical gown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a process of combing a detachable brassiere with a brassiere-compatible medical gown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate embodiments and features of medical gowns in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale, and various dimensions may be altered. In certain instances, details that are not necessary for an understanding of the invention or that render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted. It should be understood, of course, that the invention is not necessarily limited to the particular embodiments illustrated herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although the following text sets forth a detailed description of numerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the legal scope of the description is defined by the words of the claims set forth at the end of this disclosure. The detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment since describing every possible embodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. Numerous alternative embodiments could be implemented, using either current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims.
FIG. 1 illustrates at least one embodiment of a medical gown 100 having an outer garment 102 with fabric neck ties 106 and body ties 116 and a brassiere 124 with shoulder straps 128 attached to the outer garment 102. More specifically, the outer garment 102 has two sleeves 112, a straight sideline 132, and the brassiere 124 comprises two shoulder straps 128. In some embodiments, the brassiere 124 is permanently attached to the outer garment 102 to provide breast support, as shown in FIG. 1 . In other embodiments, the brassiere 210 may be releasably attached to the outer garment 202, as shown and described in FIG. 2 . In the illustrated embodiment in FIG. 1 , the brassiere 124 is permanently attached to the outer garment 102 by sewing the two shoulder straps 128 of the brassiere to the outer garment 102. In other instances, the brassiere may be permanently attached to the outer garment by, for example, heat pressing, high-pressure processing, and/or gluing. In the illustrated embodiment, the brassiere 124 comprises a double-layer fabric with bound edges. As a result, the brassiere comprises two identical surfaces. Conventionally, brassieres are typically worn in one orientation only, with only one surface designated to contact the wearers' skin and breasts. Thus, conventional single-orientation brassieres cannot typically be worn in more than one orientation. However, because the medical gowns of the present disclosure are specially designed to wear with the outer garment opening facing forward or backward, the medical gown 100 can be worn in at least two orientations. More specifically, because the brassiere 124 contains two identical surfaces, wearers may choose to have either surface as the skin-contacting surface without experiencing discomforts caused by fabric texture, pattern, soft or hardened wires, or sewing lines.
The outer garment also includes a full-length outer garment opening 118 with two pairs of body ties 116 and a pair of neck ties 106. It will be appreciated that the full-length opening 118 can be placed in the front or at the back of the gown, which enables the wearer to wear the gown 100 in two different orientations. In some embodiments, the gown 100 may include more than or less than two pairs of body ties 116 and more than or less than two pairs of neck ties 106. When wearing the full-length opening 118 at the back, a wearer will have the outer garment 102 and brassiere 124 in front of her and place the loose ends of body ties and neck ties at her back. The wearer may further put her arms through the two sleeves 112. The wearer may further secure the outer garment 102 and brassiere 124 by adjusting and closing all the ties 116 and 106 at her back. A wearer may also wear a full-length opening 118 in front. In such instances, the wearer will put her head through the neckline circle 126 formed by the brassiere's shoulder straps 128 and the outer garment 102. A wearer then will place the brassiere 124 at her front chest area and have the outer garment 102 at her back and put her arms through the sleeves 112. To secure the medical gown 100, a wearer will first tie the brassiere ties 130 at her back and then close the outer garment body ties 106 and the neck ties 116 at the front.
FIG. 2 illustrates at least one embodiment of a medical gown 200 having an outer garment 202 with fabric body ties 208 and neck ties 204 and a brassiere 210 without a shoulder strap attached to the outer garment 202. More specifically, the outer garment 202 includes back ties 204 and neck ties 208, two sleeves 206, and a brassiere 210 without a shoulder strap. In the illustrated embodiment, the brassiere 210 comprises a breast-supporting area 214 and is attached to the outer garment 202 through sewing. Because the brassiere is secured on the outer garment, once a wearer secures the outer garment by closing the body ties 208 and neck ties 204, the brassiere 210 will also be simultaneously secured. In other instances, the brassiere may be attached to the outer garment by, for example, heat pressing, high-pressure processing, and/or gluing.
Alternatively or additionally, the brassiere may be selectively removable from the outer garment by attaching the brassiere through a removable attaching mechanism comprising, for example, a zipper, a hook and loop material sold under the trademark VELCRO®, buttons, and/or snap fasteners. Such a feature enables the wearer to remove the brassiere as needed without compromising the medical gown's regular function in certain instances, for example, when the wearer does not wish to wear the brassiere or is required by a clinician to wear the full-length opening at the front without a brassiere. The wearer can then reattach the brassiere to the outer garment.
FIG. 3 illustrates a process of attaching a brassiere 304 with a brassiere-compatible medical gown 300, where the medical gown 300 has an outer garment 302 with a brassiere attaching mechanism 306. The brassiere 304 may be releasably attached to the outer garment 302. In the illustrated embodiment, the brassiere attaching mechanism 306 comprises hook and loop fasteners and sold under the trademark VELCRO®. The brassiere attaching mechanisms 306 may also comprise, for example, zippers, snap fasteners, and/or buttons. The brassiere attaching mechanism 306 may additionally comprise two shoulder strap components 306A with one placed on the end of each shoulder strap 310. The brassiere attaching mechanism 306 may also comprise two outer garment components 306B placed on the outer garment 302. When connecting each shoulder strap component 306A to the corresponding outer garment component 306B, the brassiere 304 will be securely attached to the outer garment 302, and the locations of the outer garment components 306B will ensure that the brassiere 304 can be properly extended without misplacing the brassiere 304.
Wearers' breast sizes and medical conditions vary dramatically; therefore, brassieres in the current disclosure come in different sizes to better fit different breast sizes and medical conditions and maximize comfortability. Outer garments may also be stocked in different sizes to fit wearers' different heights and weights. When choosing his or her medical gown, a wearer may mix and/or match the sizes of a brassiere 304 and an outer garment 302 to ensure the best fitting for his or her medical gown.
Further, a user can wear a medical gown 300 without a brassiere. In various situations, for example, when required by a clinician, a wearer may choose or be required to wear a medical gown without a brassiere. Embodiments where the brassiere is removable from the outer garment enable such flexibility. To improve comfortability, an accessory component, such as a spare set of hook and loop fasteners sold under the trademark VELCRO® or snaps, can be provided to attach to the outer garment components to even the attaching components' surfaces when the wearer is wearing the medical gown 300 without the brassiere 304.
FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate embodiments containing various outer garment opening fastening mechanisms 404. The illustrated embodiments show various options for the fastening mechanisms 404, including hook and loop fasteners sold under the trademark VELCRO® (shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B), snap fasteners (shown in FIG. 4C), and/or a zipper (shown in FIG. 4D). The full-length opening 402 may comprise any number of fasteners and may include different types of fasteners. For example, in FIG. 4A, the top of the full-length opening 402 is closed by a snap button, and the lower portion of the full-length opening is closed by hook and loop fasteners sold under the trademark VELCRO®. The illustrated embodiments also show outer garments 400 with fasteners 404 positioned at different portions of the full-length opening 402 such that the full-length opening 402 is not fully sealed but left with opening portion(s). Such opening portion(s) enables clinicians access to the wearer's body without opening the entire medical gown and may protect a wearer's privacy as much as possible.
While various embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it is apparent that modifications and alterations of those embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be expressly understood that such modifications and alterations are within the scope and spirit of the present invention, as set forth in the following claims. Further, the invention(s) described herein is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
It is to be appreciated that any feature described herein can be claimed in combination with any other feature(s) as described herein, regardless of whether the features come from the same described embodiment.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A medical gown comprising:

an outer garment comprising:

a left sleeve;

a right sleeve;

an opening, and

a fastening mechanism operable to selectively close the opening and secure a first portion and a second portion of the outer garment; and

a brassiere comprising:

a pair of shoulder straps;

a pair of breasts-supporting cups manufactured with double-layer fabrics and bounded edges; and

a brassiere securing mechanism;

wherein the brassiere is secured to the outer garment by an attachment between the outer garment and the brassiere provided at an upper portion of each of the pair of shoulder straps.

2. The medical gown of claim 1, wherein the outer garment opening further comprises:

a top edge;

a bottom edge; and

a full-length outer garment opening connected to the top edge and the bottom edge.

3. The medical gown of claim 1, wherein the shoulder straps are attached to the outer garment by at least one of sewing, heat pressing, high-pressure processing, and gluing.

4. The medical gown of claim 1, wherein the sleeves each comprise:

a sleeve portion;

a sleeve opening; and

a sleeve opening fastening mechanism comprising at least one of a zipper, a hook and loop material, buttons, and snap fasteners.

5. The medical gown of claim 1, wherein the fastening mechanism is selected from a group comprising zipper, one or more pairs of hook and loop material, one or more buttons, and one or more snap fast.

6. The medical gown of claim 1, wherein the brassiere further comprises:

a brassiere opening;

at least one brassiere back string;

a brassiere closing mechanism placed on the brassiere back string; and

at least one shoulder strap, wherein at least one shoulder strap is attached to the outer garment to form a neckline and a remaining portion of the brassiere is detached from the outer garment.

7. The medical gown of claim 1, wherein the outer garment comprises a straight sideline.

8. The medical gown of claim 6, wherein the brassiere closing mechanism comprises at least one zipper, a hook and loop material, buttons, and snap fasteners.

9. A medical gown comprising:

an outer garment;

a brassiere;

a brassier attaching mechanism comprising:

a pair of outer garment components placed on the outer garment; and

a pair of brassiere components placed on the brassiere,

wherein the brassiere can be attached to and removed from the outer garment via connecting and disconnecting the outer garment components and the brassiere components.

10. The brassiere attaching mechanism of claim 9 is selected from a group comprising a zipper, a hook and loop material, buttons, and snap fasteners.

11. A medical gown comprising:

an outer garment comprising:

a left sleeve;

a right sleeve;

an outer garment opening placed on the outer garment, wherein the outer garment opening has a length equal to a length of the outer garment; and

a fastening mechanism operable to secure a first portion and a second portion of the outer garment; and

a brassiere comprising:

a pair of shoulder straps;

a pair of brassiere ties;

a pair of breasts-supporting cups manufactured with double-layer fabrics and bounded edges, wherein the supporting cups and the brassier further comprises two identical surfaces; and

a brassiere securing mechanism;

wherein the brassier attaches to the outer garment by attaching the shoulder straps to the outer garment.

12. The medical gown of claim 11, wherein the outer garment opening further comprises:

a top edge; and

a bottom edge,

wherein the outer garment opening is connected to the top edge and the bottom edge.

13. The medical gown of claim 11, wherein the shoulder straps are attached to the outer garment by at least one of sewing, heat pressing, high-pressure processing, and gluing.

14. The medical gown of claim 11, wherein the sleeves each comprises:

a sleeve portion;

a sleeve opening; and

15. The medical gown of claim 11 wherein the fastening mechanism is selected from a group comprising zipper, one or more pairs of hook and loop material, one or more buttons, and one or more snap fast.