Patent Application
20200307297
Successfully administering medication to a child creates numerous difficulties for the concerned parent or caregiver. Generally speaking, children do not look forward to taking medication. Where oral administration of a cough or cold medication is indicated, the child may object to swallowing a pill or ingesting a chewable one, complaining about difficulty in swallowing the contents, taste, texture or other circumstances. The same is true of an oral liquid medication such as an antibiotic administered by a syringe or liquid holder. The child may be in an anxious state, possibly because he or she is being asked to take the medication, has a fever and is irritable, or for these and/or other reasons prior to its administration, and proffering the medication may amount to the last proverbial straw. A child with special needs or sensitivities may compound difficulties.
What can be an emotionally fraught conflict between child and parent can also rise to a significant health issue with potentially substantially consequences if the child refuses to take a medication such as antibiotic. The child can push it away, possibly spilling precious prescribed medication such as an antibiotic, spit it out, or otherwise engage in noncompliance, such as simply by refusing to open his or her mouth.
The scenario at bedtime or before nap can be particularly difficult where after a long day a fatigued parent is trying to manage the child, especially a sick one. Although books may be read at bedtime to soothe the child and mark the end of the day, this bedtime ritual may be interrupted by the need to administer medication, leading to an all-too-familiar circumstance of a frustrated and tired parent and a frustrated and newly energized child.
It will be readily appreciated that the individual reading the book can be a parent of the child, be a caregiver for the child such as a relative or sitter, be a health-care provider, or another individual. For purposes of this document use of “parent” is meant to encompass all of the above. Indeed certain children can be substantially more anxious cared for by an individual who is not the parent, and thus the innovation herein can be of particular benefit.
Embodiments herein describe a manufacture for storing medications for children.
In various embodiments, securing the container 20 for a health-related article to inside back cover 41 can be accomplished by permanent or replaceable mechanisms. Container 20 can be a sealable container such as a pill container. The pill container can be permanently affixed to inside back cover 40. Such affixation can be done by gluing or other mechanisms. In embodiments, the affixation can extend through the inside back cover 41 to the outside back cover (not shown).
Further, container 20 can be replaceably engageable. For example, given the very same copy of book 10, a pill container, syringe container, toothbrush container, or thermometer container can be switched out depending on the desires of the parent or child. A fastening mechanism (not shown), such as a clip, latch or other mechanism, can secure container 20 to book 10. The mechanism for pairing with one or more containers can be affixed to back inside cover 41, or extend outwards to the outside back cover (not shown). The containers themselves can have a mechanism that replaceably pairs with the mechanism on back inside cover 41 or extends therethrough. In this manner, container 20 can be switched out easily. For example, the parent can insert a pill container on a Monday, a syringe container on a Tuesday, etc., as desired or needed. Mechanisms for replaceably affixing a small container to a substantially rigid backing are readily ascertainable by those of skill in the art.
Returning to
In embodiments, leaf 50 has a recess 55. When book 10 is closed, container 20 can be disposed through recess 55. More generally, it can be appreciated that pill container 20 can be disposed within recesses 65, 75, and 85 of additional leaves 60, 70, 80. In this manner, pill container 20 can be visible from the front cover 30 of the book. As the book is read to the child by the parent or caregiver from the first pages to the last ones, a leaf will be turned, and pill container 20 can remain visible through the recessed portion. In other embodiments, the front cover is integral without a recess disposed therein. In this embodiment, container 20 cannot be seen when book 10 is closed. Rather, container 20 can emerge as visible upon opening the book and viewing the front page of first leaf 50. Or, container 20 can emerge at second leaf 60, and so on. There may be a resealable or sealable member (not shown) on any give leaf (and front cover 30) that can cover container 20 from view by the child, and the parent can remove the resealable or sealable member to show container 20. The member may be non-resealable.
Children's books may be prepared of relative sturdy materials. These materials may be paper-based, polymer-based, a combination thereof or another substance(s). In this respect, leaves may have a sturdier quality with less “give” for a specified leaf than with an adult's book. Some children's books may be considered “board books” accordingly. By reducing forces on container 20 from opening or closing the book, or turning leaves, there can be less stress on container 20. Further, back cover 40 can be made of a material sturdier than that of inside leaves 50, 60, 70 and 80. In this manner affixation can be made between container 20 and inside back cover 41 or back cover 40 in a more robust manner. In addition, thickness of back cover 40 can be greater than that of leaves 50, 60, 70 and 80. It will be appreciated that back cover 30 can be both sturdier and thicker than one or more leaves, again as it may anchor container 20, and form a basis for replaceably or permanently engaging container 20 in a long-lasting manner to stand up to repeated use not to mention curious small fingers.
It will be understood that there may well be multiple leaves in book 10. Some or many leaves may be of uniform thickness and/or sturdiness; alternatively, there may be groups of leaves of varying thickness or sturdiness. Leaves may vary individually in thickness in multiple ways in accord with embodiments.
Container 20 may be made of a polymer or other material or materials suitable for the health-care article contained therein. Dimensions of container 20, for pills, can be 2.75 cm wide×4.0 cm long×2.0 cm deep. Dimensions of container 20 for a syringe or syrup holder can be 20.0 cm long by 4.0 cm wide by 2.5 cm deep. In embodiments, container 20 must be long enough to hold a syringe when it is full, or have at least one cavity through which the syringe can be disposed. It will be evident to one of skill in the art that these dimensions can vary. In non-limiting embodiments, then, it will be readily apparent that container 20 can represent multiple shapes of multiple dimensions in which a health-related article can be stored. Container 20 can contain subcontainers for storing two or more health-related articles.
Container 20 can have a cover 25 that flips open to provide access to medication. There may be markings 26 on cover 25. The marking shown in
Additionally,
A toothbrush can be disposed in container 20. Again, container 20 can be adapted to contain the toothbrush residing therein. As well, a thermometer can be contained in container 20, with suitable adaptations to container 20 to accommodate the thermometer. To be sure, there may be multiple containers, each having the proper dimensions for holding, as appropriate, pills, a syringe, a toothbrush, and a thermometer.
In operation, book 10 can be held by a parent reading to a child. The parent or child can open container 20 to reveal the health-related article therein, be it a pill, syringe, toothbrush, thermometer or other item. Book 10 can be constructed so that container 20 can be opened when book 10 is closed, or when the last leaf is reached, or in another manner.
It will be appreciated that in embodiments the contents of the book, such as the story and illustrations, may provide a narrative that facilitates the chances that the child will take the medication. A character or characters in the book can have the same condition as the child in the target pediatric population, have other identifiable characteristics in common with the child, and so on. The characters can manifest anxiety about taking medication, brushing teeth, having temperature taken, and so forth. However, the character can be shown to take the medication, brush teeth, or have temperature taken. In other words, the health-related article can be woven into the narrative of the book. The narrative can be comprised of textual elements, graphical elements such as pictorial features, and/or sensory-stimulating elements that can be found in a children's book, such as those that generate a sound, certain fabrics or textures, and more.
It must be borne in mind that the content of the book does not need to revolve around health or taking medications. Rather, the manufacture described herein can increase health-care compliance among the pediatric population by providing a secure, convenient, safe location for storing a health-related item for a child. Further, it provides the opportunity for parent and child to share an experience, which can relax the child and make him or her more responsive to receiving the medication that is or will soon become visible as the book is read. This “normalizes” the process, offers a physically immediate and convenient mechanism for the parent to administer the needed medication to the child, and ultimately increases medication compliance.
In embodiments, the affixation can be accomplished by an engagement mechanism in cooperation with inside front cover 31, the mechanism for which can extend through or beyond the outside back cover. The affixation can be accomplished by securing container 20 to a leaf or leaves in the interior of book 10. Additional methods of engaging container 20 with inside back cover 41, or inside front cover 31, or a leaf thereon are available.
It will be appreciated that the recesses that bound container 20—be it a container for pills, syringe, toothbrush, thermometer, or other item—can assume a shape based on the that of container 20. This is to enable container 20 to extend cleanly through the recesses, and also to enable the book to undergo less wear and tear.
Although various embodiments have been described herein, many modifications, variations, substitutions, changes, and equivalents to those embodiments may be implemented and will occur to those skilled in the art. Also, where materials are disclosed for certain components, other materials may be used. It is therefore to be understood that the foregoing description and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and variations as falling within the scope of the disclosed embodiments. The following claims are intended to cover all such modification and variations.
In summary, numerous benefits have been described which result from employing the concepts described herein. The foregoing description of the one or more embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting to the precise form disclosed. Modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The one or more embodiments were chosen and described in order to illustrate principles and practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the claims submitted herewith define the overall scope.
