WO1992016175A1

WO1992016175A1 - Patient bed

Info

Publication number: WO1992016175A1
Application number: PCT/FI1992/000069
Authority: WO
Inventors: Erkki Himanka
Original assignee: Erkki Himanka
Priority date: 1991-03-12
Filing date: 1992-03-12
Publication date: 1992-10-01
Also published as: FI911224A0; FI911224A7; FI911224L

Abstract

The object of this invention is a) a method for washing a patient without having to lift or transfer the patient, and b) a combination bed in which the patient can lie and in which the patient can be washed. Advantageously a receptacle can be inserted beneath the bed. It is preferable that the bed mattress (2, 3) is divided into six parts of equal size and longitudinally with respect to the bed into two parts. This makes it possible for the patient to be rolled over and for mattress modules (2, 3) to be removed prior to the patient being washed.

Description

PATIENT BED

This invention relates to a patient bed solution ERICϋS^R as a convalescent bed for the handicapped- chronically ill and other bed-restricted persons, the said bed enabling the execution of personal hygiene measures without there being a need for lifting the patient. This being so, one person can attend to the entire care situation.

In the sector of out-patient care and home care there is a need for equipment similar to that in use in hospitals and including patient beds. As a case in point, the daily geni¬ tal hygiene of a paralysed person is difficult to attend to even in a hospital, and it requires the joint efforts of two caretakers. In the care of out-patients this is very difficult to organise, and thus many home helpers may find themselves facing tasks that are next to impossible to perform. The age structure of Finnish society and labour shortage have led to a real crisis in the care sector, especially in major population centres. Fast solutions, including technical ones, are needed.

Various different patient bed solutions have heretofore been provided. Examples of these are disclosed in SE publi- cation print No. 437 327, published DE application Nos. 2016319, 2444963 and 3615984, EP patent application No. 0374742, US patent publication No. 4631762, CH patent publication Nos. 555674 and 670383, and DK publication print No. 146353. These contain mainly presentations of solutions of how the patient's genital hygiene can be arranged or how the patient can be raised prior to washing in order to have access to the waste removal opening.

The biggest problem and strain with regard to lifting or moving the patient focuses on the caretaker. Another prob¬ lem arises from the necessity of providing patient beds with various lifting devices or of using transfer devices for either raising or transferring the patient or parts of the mattress. These devices take up room, and they are expensive and impractical.

The combination bed in accordance with the invention is a decisive improvement on the aforementioned shortcomings. In order to bring about these improvements, the combination bed in accordance with the invention is characterised by what is presented in the characterizing part of the claim 1.

The foremost advantage of the invention may be seen in the feature that there is no need to lift the patient or move him from the bed when administering a shower washing treat¬ ment. This being the case, the caretaker's work stress is significantly reduced. Further, the removable cassette, that can be joined to the combination, bed provides a visual shield and protection against splashes. The level of hygiene and of the associated functions is significantly improved.

The ERICTJS^R patient bed embodies the following properties:

1. A patient bed, light in structure, which, in addition to being able to be raised and lowered, can also be tilted around the shaft located along the middle of the bed so that the foot and head portions can be raised and lowered independent of one another. This action is intended to be executed either manually, electrically or hydraulically.

2. Further, the solution enables the easy removal of the mattresses, composed of six rectangular pillows, from be- neath the patient without there being a need to lift the patient. All that is required is for the patient to be rolled over slightly.

3. The bottom of the bed beneath the mattresses is made of a plastic material that collects all the wash water and conducts it into holes located in the bottom of the bed. A receptacle for catching this water can be placed underneath these holes. An infrared lamp placed above the bed can be used to provide warmth for the patient and the plastic bottom of the bed in order to make the washing operation more pleasant. The actual washing operation can be perfor¬ med using a manual shower or even a water jug. The patient needs to be turned when being washed, but there is no need to lift him.

4. The ERICUS^R bed solution includes an anatomically shaped toilet facility made of elastic material and positioned either in place of the lid or beneath it. The shower nozzle can be inserted through the opening in the vertical side of the toilet facility. This results in the handy and neat attending to of genital hygiene. On completion of the washing stage, the toilet facility must first be brushed clean. It can advantageously be disconnected from the bed like the cassette, and the middle hole in the bed is then covered over with a lid. The patient has to be turned on his left side when this is done. Following this, the pa¬ tient and the right side of the bed bottom are dried and the mattress pillows on the right side are placed back in the bed and the patient is rolled over to his right side. This is followed by drying the left side of the patient and of the bottom of the bed. Finally, the patient is turned on his back on to the middle of the bed and tucked in.

In the following, the invention is described in detail and references are made to the appended drawings.

Figure 1 shows the bed with the modular mattresses (6 pie¬ ces) .

Figure 2 shows the bed with modular mattresses removed from one side of the bed.

Figure 3 shows the bed with the modular mattresses removed and with the cassette placed in the opening in the middle of the bed and showing the top and bottom evacuation openings.

Figures 4 a, b and c show various sectional views of the protective cassette; 4a is a side view, 4b from the rear and 4c from above.

Figure 1 shows the bed 1 with the mattress (2, 3) composed of six parts placed on top of it. An essential feature is that the mattress composed of six pieces is divided length¬ wise by one longitudinal line of demarcation and crosswise by two lines of demarcation. Advantageously, the size of an individual mattress module is about 40 x 66 cm. On becoming soiled, only the soiled mattress module, and mainly its cover (advantageously made of cotton tricot), needs to be replaced and washed. Further, this structural entity makes it possible for the patient to be rolled over (there being no need to lift him) to the other side 2 of the modular mattress while the other side 3 is having its modular matt¬ resses removed or vice versa. Once all the modular mattres¬ ses have been removed, the lid covering the hole in the middle of the bed is removed and a cassette fitting into the hole can then be placed in the hole and its vertical protective shield can be raised between the patient's legs. Thus, the bed can be converted into a position suitable for intestinal lavage or genital hygiene purposes, for instan¬ ce. The patient lies on his back or (if able to do so) he may assume a crouching position over the cassette 4. Fig. 3 shows the latter position.

When necessary, the hair or feet of a patient reclined in the bed can be washed apart from other care operations. When this is done, only the two adjacent mattress modules at the head or foot of the bed are removed and the bed is then tilted (e.g. a la Trendelenburg) in order to promote the flow of water towards the opening at the head or foot of the bed.

As becomes apparent from Figs. 1-3, the holes 5 have been executed in the bed to facilitate the evacuation of waste water and the bottom of the bed has the shape of a shallow basin in order to prevent water from flowing over the edges. Further, the bed can be provided with down-folding safety railings. A horizontal bar can be installed above the bed and a "monkey bar" fastened onto it. The said horizontal bar can also be used for mounting an infrared heating device and a light fixture when necessary. Further, the bed can be raised and lowered to a suitable height by using a spindle motor, for instance. A fan can be installed beneath the bed in the vicinity of the removable cassette so that the air drawn in is filtered by an active carbon filter.

Figure 4a shows a lengthwise-to-the-bed sectional side view of the cassette and the evacuation opening covered by a lid. Figure 4b shows a sectional view of the said com- ponents crosswise to the bed. The cassette 4 shown is made of elastic material (e.g rubber, plastic) whereupon its wall 10 is provided with a flap hole 12 via which the nozzle of a washing hose can be inserted, the said nozzle carrying a water mixer with a valve. The flaps 11 prevent water from being splashed out through the hole. The casset¬ te also serves as a visual shield.

It is necessary to point out that the invention has been described here with reference having been made to only one of its advantageous forms of implementation. This is by no means intended to restrict the application of the invention to only this example. Instead, many variations are possible within the scope of the inventive idea as defined in the following claims.

Claims

Claims :

1. A combination patient bed intended for a bed-restricted patient to lie in and for administering whole-body washing of the patient, the said bed lending itself to being tilted around the shaft located in the middle of the bed so that the foot and head portions of the bed can be raised and lowered, and the bottom of the said bed being implemented of plastic material and troughlike in form and embodying evacuation holes (5,8,9) and a mattress (2,3) that is removed for the duration of washing operations and a recep¬ tacle placed beneath the evacuation hole (5) , characterized in that the mattress (2,3) of the bed is divided into six parts of equal size so that there is one line of demarcati- on longitudinally with respect to the bed and two lines of demarcation crosswise to the bed.

2. A combination bed as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that a perforated shield (4), that is removable or that can be placed in the evacuation hole underneath the lid, can be mounted on top of the bed's evacuation hole (5) to provide visual protection and protection against splashes.

3. A combination bed as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that both ends of the bed are provided with an evacuati¬ on hole (9, 8) for the purpose of removing waste water when the feet or the head of the patient are being washed.

4. A combination bed as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the removable shield (4) is provided with a flap hole enabling the nozzle of a hand-held shower to be inser¬ ted through it and at the same time stopping water from splashing out.