Patent Application
20200179200
This invention relates to a protective pad for bed side rails generally and more particularly to such a protective pad which is adjustable in its fit and can be easily installed.
While many retirees remain healthy, a certain percent unfortunately become infirmed or encounter physical ailments which will cause them to become bedridden. With the high number of elderly people who are or will be spending various periods of time in hospitals, long term care facilities, nursing homes, retirement homes, and home care, additional special hospital/geriatric beds are or will soon be needed. Those beds, which are currently used in hospitals by patients of all ages, usually have bed rails for helping to prevent patients from falling or getting out of bed.
Sometimes, the hands of patients who are delirious or who have diminished mental capacity are tied with padded wrist bands to bed rails to prevent them from leaving the bed or pulling out their intravenous transfusion lines (IVs). For those patients who are confined to a bed in a sterile room for most of the day, small comforts are much appreciated.
At other times, patients are subject to mental health issues. One of which is to have seizures. These seizures can cause the patient to move in various and sometimes obtuse directions. When these seizures occur in a hospital bed, the patients sometime hit their head on the bed side rails or may even physically fall from the bed and sustain an injury.
Bed rails usually comprise metal bars. They are cold and hostile looking, particularly when viewed up close from a prone position. Providing a protective bumper pad for the bed rails should also reduce minor injuries which result from bumping or scaping the hands, arms or legs against the bed rails and possibly pulling out an IV or other tubes attached to the patient. This is particularly important for the delirious patient who is tied to and may be thrashing against the bed and rails.
Bed rails can be short or long in length. Most hospital beds have two short rails on opposite Sides of the bed. When a person is lying in the bed, the rails are approximately at chest level. The set of rails at the lower end of the bed are to help discourage the patient from swinging his legs over the edge of the bed to get up. This helps to prevent falls.
Some beds have two short rails on opposite sides of the bed which telescope into longer rails of between about 75 and 80 inches in length. These rails can be used in the short position or be pulled out into a longer position once the patient is in the bed. The present bumper pad can also fit a telescoping bed rail. The protective bumper pad of the present invention has elastic aspects and can fit short bed rails or it can be stretched to fit longer bed rails.
Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. All terms in the plural shall also be taken as singular and vice-versa. Further, any reference to he shall also be applicable to she and vice-versa.
With reference to the drawings wherein like numerals represent like parts throughout the figures.
The hospital bed has means (not shown) for adjusting the mattress 32 over a range of segmental elevational configurations. The mattress 32 is typically relatively stiff and does not conform exactly to the configuration assumed by the mattress support 34 resulting in relative movement between the mattress 32 and the bed rail 30. Additionally, movement of the mattress support 34 changes the position of the bed rail segments 30′, 30″ relative to each other.
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The protective bumper pad 200 has an outer frame 210 and a pad body 220 that covers the entire protective bumper pad 200. The outer frame 210 is made of a rigid or a semi-rigid material such that when the protective bumper pad 200 is placed upon the bed rails 30, the protective bumper pad 200 is solid and secure. The rigid or semi-rigid material may be of any type that would allow the protective bumper pad 200 to be rigid and secure for the patient when installed. For example, the material may be polyvinyl chloride piping (PVC), copper piping, galvanized steel piping, chlorinated polyvinyl chloride piping (CPVC), cross-linked polyethylene piping (PEX), etc.
The pad body 220 of the protective bumper pad 200 also has an inner pad 230. The inner pad 230 is made of a material which is soft and cushioned. The inner pad 230 provides a solid barrier but also one in which if the patient falls or has a seizure does softens the collision and prevents injury. The exemplary inner pad 230 is made of a leather like fabric. The material may be any material which is soft yet does not easily split. The material may also be latex free, as hospitals are normally latex free because of allergies to latex that is becoming more common. The pad body 220 is preferably removable and washable.
The pad body 220 has one or more connecting ports 240. These connecting ports are used to secure the protective bumper pad 200 to the bed rails 30. The exemplary connecting ports 240 are shown as grommets but one can contemplate using any type of connecting ports 240 to secure the protective bumper pad 30 to the bed rails 30.
The protective bumper pad 300 has an outer frame 310 and a pad body 320 that covers the entire protective bumper pad 300. The outer frame 310 is made of a rigid or a semi-rigid material such that when the protective bumper pad 300 is placed upon the bed rails 30, the protective bumper pad 300 is solid and secure. The rigid or semi-rigid material may be of any type that would allow the protective bumper pad 300 to be rigid and secure for the patient when installed. For example, the material may be polyvinyl chloride piping (PVC), copper piping, galvanized steel piping, chlorinated polyvinyl chloride piping (CPVC), cross-linked polyethylene piping (PEX), etc.
The pad body 320 of the protective bumper pad 300 also has an inner pad 330. The inner pad 330 is made of a material which is soft and cushioned. The inner pad 330 provides a solid barrier but also one in which if the patient falls or has a seizure does softens the collision and prevents injury. The exemplary inner pad 330 is made of a leather like fabric. The material may be any material which is soft yet does not easily split. The material may also be latex free, as hospitals are normally latex free because of allergies to latex that is becoming more common. The pad body 320 is preferably removable and washable.
The pad body 320 has one or more connecting ports 340. These connecting ports are used to secure the protective bumper pad 300 to the bed rails 30. The exemplary connecting ports 340 are shown as Velcro straps but one can contemplate using any type of connecting ports 340 to secure the protective bumper pad 300 to the bed rails 30.
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The features described with respect to one embodiment may be applied to other embodiments or combined with or interchanged with the features of other embodiments, as appropriate, without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.
