Patent Application
20200230003
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The disclosure and prior art relates to patient transferring devices and more particularly pertains to a new patient transferring device for slidably transferring a patient between a gurney and a bed, or vice verse.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a hospital bed that has a mattress deck and a plurality of legs. A gurney is provided that includes a mattress panel and a plurality of legs. The gurney is positionable in a transferring position having the mattress panel being positioned adjacent to and being oriented coextensive with the mattress deck on the hospital bed. A mattress is slidably coupled to the mattress panel on the gurney and a patient lies on the mattress. The mattress slidably engages the mattress deck on the hospital bed when the gurney is positioned in the transferring position and the mattress is urged to slide laterally onto the mattress deck. In this way the mattress transfers the patient from the gurney to the hospital bed without requiring the patient to be lifted.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The top surface 20 has a plurality of bed channels 34 each extending downwardly toward the bottom surface 22, and each of the bed channels 34 extends from the first lateral side 26 toward the second lateral side 28. Moreover, each of the bed channels 34 has a terminal end 36 adjacent to the second lateral side 28. Each of the bed channels 34 has a bounding surface 38 and the bounding surface 38 of each of the bed channels 34 is concavely arcuate with respect to the top surface 20 of the mattress deck 14.
The plurality of bed channels 34 is arranged into a set of first bed channels 40, a set of second bed channels 42 and a set of third bed channels 44. The sets of first 40, second 42 and third 44 bed channels are spaced apart from each other and are distributed between the front side 30 and the back side 32 of the peripheral edge 24 of the mattress deck 14. A plurality of bed wheels 46 is each rotatably coupled to a bottom end 47 of a respective one of the legs 16 for rolling the hospital bed 12 along the support surface 18. Each of the bed wheels 46 may be locking casters or other wheels that are common to hospital beds.
A gurney 48 is provided that has a mattress panel 50 and a plurality of legs 52 each extending downwardly from the mattress panel 50. Thus, the legs 52 on the gurney 48 support the mattress panel 50 above a support surface 18, such as the floor of the hospital room or the like. The gurney 48 is positionable in a transferring position having the mattress panel 50 being positioned adjacent to and being oriented coextensive with the mattress deck 14 on the hospital bed 12.
The mattress panel 50 has an upper surface 54, a lower surface 56 and an outer edge 58 extending therebetween, and the outer edge 58 has a first lateral side 60, a second lateral side 62, a front side 64 and a back side 66. Each of the legs 52 on the gurney 48 is coupled to and extends downwardly from the lower surface 56 of the mattress panel 50. The upper surface 54 has a plurality of gurney channels 68 each extending downwardly toward the lower surface 56. Each of the gurney channels 68 extends from the second lateral side 62 of the outer edge 58 toward the first lateral side 60 of the outer edge 58. Moreover, each of the gurney channels 68 has a terminal end 70 adjacent to the first lateral side 60 of the outer edge 58. Each of the gurney channels 68 has a bounding surface 72 and the bounding surface 72 of each of the gurney channels 68 is concavely arcuate with respect to the upper surface 54 of the mattress panel 50.
The plurality of gurney channels 68 is arranged into a set of first gurney channels 74, a set of second gurney channels 76 and a set of third gurney channels 78. The sets of first 74, second 76 and third 78 gurney channels are spaced apart from each other and are distributed between the front side 30 and the back side 32 of the outer edge 58 of the mattress panel 50. The second lateral side 28 of the outer edge 58 of the mattress panel 50 on the gurney 48 is positioned adjacent to the first lateral side 26 of the peripheral edge 24 of the mattress deck 14 on the hospital bed 12 has each of the sets of first 74, second 76 and third 78 gurney channels is aligned with a respective one of the sets of first 40, second 42 and third 44 bed channels when the gurney 48 is positioned in the transferring position. Additionally, the upper surface 54 of the mattress panel 50 lies on a plane that is coplanar with the top surface 20 of the mattress deck 14 when the gurney 48 is positioned in the transferring position. A plurality of gurney wheels 80 is each of the gurney wheels 80 is rotatably coupled to a bottom end 82 of a respective one of the legs 52 on the gurney 48 for rolling the gurney 48 along the support surface 18.
A mattress 84 is provided and the patient 86 lies on the mattress 84. The patient 86 may be an individual in a nursing home, an individual in a hospital or any other immobile or disabled individual. The mattress 84 is slidably coupled to the mattress panel 50 on the gurney 48. Additionally, the mattress 84 slidably engages the mattress deck 14 on the hospital bed 12 when the gurney 48 is positioned in the transferring position and the mattress 84 is urged to slide laterally onto the mattress deck 14. In this way the mattress 84 facilitates the patient 86 to be transferred from the gurney 48 to the hospital bed 12 without requiring the patient 86 to be lifted.
The mattress 84 has a lower side 88, an upper side 90 and an exterior side 92 extending therebetween, and the patient 86 lies on the upper side 90. The exterior side 92 has a first lateral surface 94 and a second lateral surface 96. A plurality of rails 98 is each coupled to the lower side 88 of the mattress 84, and each of the rails 98 extends between the first lateral surface 94 and the second lateral surface 96. Each of the rails 98 has a lower surface 100, and the lower surface 100 of each of the rails 98 has a plurality of lobes 102 thereon each extending between the first 94 and second 96 lateral surfaces of the mattress 84.
Each of the rails 98 is aligned with a respective one of the sets of first 74, second 76 and third 78 gurney channels. Additionally, each of the lobes 102 on each of the rails 98 slidably engages the bounding surface 72 of a respective one of the gurney channels 68 in the respective set of first 74, second 76 and third 78 gurney channels. Each of the lobes 102 slides into a respective one of the bed channels 34 when the gurney 48 is positioned in the transferring position and the mattress 84 is urged to slide laterally between the gurney 48 and the hospital bed 12. In this way the mattress 84 and the patient 86, rather than just the patient 86 themselves, are moved from the gurney 48 to the hospital bed 12. Each of the gurney 48 and the hospital bed 12 may have a plurality of engagements 104 thereon. Each of the engagements 104 on the gurney 48 may be aligned with and releasably engage a respective one of the engagements 104 on the hospital bed 12 when the gurney 48 is positioned in the transferring position. In this way the gurney 48 may be releasably attached to the hospital bed 12,
In use, the mattress 84 is positioned on the gurney 48 and the patient 86 is positioned on the mattress 84. The gurney 48 is rolled into the transferring position and thereby aligning each of the sets of first 74, second 76 and third 78 gurney channels with the respective set of first 40, second 42 and third 44 bed channels. The mattress 84 is slid laterally across the gurney 48 and each of the rails 98 slidably engages the respective sets of first 40, second 42 and third 44 bed channels. The mattress 84 is slid laterally across the mattress deck 14 on the hospital bed 12 until each of the lobes 102 on each of the rails 98 abuts the terminal end 36 of the respective bed channel 34. In this way the patient 86 can be transferred between the gurney 48 and the hospital bed 12 without requiring the patient 86 to be lifted. Thus, caregivers are protected from developing back injuries and other injuries common to lifting and transferring patients from a gurney to a hospital bed. Additionally, the patient 86 can be transferred from the bed 12 to the gurney 48 in the same process.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded.
A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
