| Patient gown -> Monitor Keywords |
|
|
 
Patient gownRelated Patent Categories: Apparel, Body Garments, Vests, Bed GarmentsPatient gown description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070130668, Patient gown. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention generally relates to gowns and like wearing apparel for wear by a medical patient in a doctor's office or hospital while going through one or more various medical diagnostic procedures involving examination by health care professionals. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] Patients in hospitals, clinics, or doctors' offices are typically provided with gowns in an effort to help patients maintain their privacy and modesty during examinations. A much used and well known gown has a split-open, dual rear section back, a solid-closed front, and dual short sleeves, made of a single sheet of cloth material. The gown is secured by drawing together one or more vertically spaced-apart ties that extend from opposite edges of the two rear sections of the split-open back, and by tying the drawn ties into bows. [0005] However, such tie-bow coupling only pulls the opposite edges of the two rear sections together in the regions of the ties. Open gaps inevitably are formed between the spaced-apart ties, and portions of the patient's body are visible through these gaps. Many patients, for the sake of vanity, warmth and modesty, must manually hold the opposite edges of the two rear sections together to close these open gaps, thereby making the experience of wearing these gowns not only embarrassing, but also uncomfortable. Yet, such a split-open back gown does allow health care professionals ready access to the rear of a patient's body for performing various tests and examination procedures, e.g., a colonoscopy, but again at the cost of compromising patient modesty and comfort. [0006] Also, the solid-front gown is not well suited for breast or vaginal examinations by an OB/GYN health care specialist. These and other examinations such as a total general physical or abdominal organ examination may require total or partial removal of the gown and, in many cases, the gown is actually worn backwards such that the split-open back of the garment covers the front of the patient. However, as before, the inevitable open gaps, this time at the front of the patient, compromise patient modesty. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Objects of the Invention [0007] Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide an easy to manufacture, patient gown, which provides both ready access to portions of a patient's body to health care professionals and maintains the patient's modesty, vanity and comfort. [0008] Another object of this invention is to provide a comfortable patient gown that is patient-considerate and health care personnel-considerate and accords unrestrictive selective access to one or more portions of the patient's body for medical examination purposes and other procedural purposes. [0009] Still another object of this invention is to enhance personal modesty absent in known medical patient wearing attire. Features of the Invention [0010] In keeping with these objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of this invention resides, briefly stated, in a patient gown, comprising a garment having an access opening overlying a portion of a patient's body when worn; and a drape attached to the garment for movement between a covered position in which the drape covers the access opening to conceal, and maintain patient privacy of, said portion of the patient's body, and an exposed position in which the drape is uncovered from the access opening to expose, and enable access to, said portion of the patient's body. [0011] In accordance with one feature of this invention, the drape is a panel mounted on the garment above the access opening for movement between said positions. The garment and the drape are each constituted of a soft, flexible sheet material. Preferably, the drape is generally rectangular in shape, has peripheral edges, at least one of which has an edging, and has an upper edge sewn along a generally horizontal seam along the garment above the access opening. The drape is suspended from the upper edge entirely over the access opening in the covered position. The drape has an area greater than a predetermined area bounded by the access opening, which is preferably bordered by a border edging to maintain the access opening constantly open. [0012] Still another feature of this invention resides in the garment having a front side, and the access opening being located on the front side of the garment and overlying at least one of upper and lower regions of said portion of the patient's body. For example, the at least one of the upper and lower regions of said portion of the patient's body may be a chest area, and the access opening is a generally circular area overlying and exposing the chest area in the exposed position. As another example, the at least one of the upper and lower regions of said portion of the patient's body may be a groin area, and the access opening is a generally U-shaped area overlying and exposing the groin area in the exposed position. [0013] The garment also has a rear side, and the access opening may be located on the rear side of the garment, for example, at the buttocks area, in which case, the access opening is a generally U-shaped area overlying and exposing the buttocks area in the exposed position. [0014] Either of the front and rear sides may be split to comprise split sides. In that case, the access opening and the drape are located at the other of the sides of the garment, and the split sides may be tied together with a tie. Preferably, neither side is split, and both sides are solid, so that the garment may be donned by being slipped down over the head of the patient. Of course, the garment is preferably constituted of a comfortable, flexible sheet cloth material and has a neck opening and a pair of sleeve openings. [0015] The gown may additionally be provided with another access opening overlying a different portion of the patient's body when worn, and another drape attached to the garment for movement between another covered position in which the other drape covers the other access opening to conceal, and maintain patient privacy of, said different portion of the patient's body, and another exposed position in which the other drape is uncovered from the other access opening to expose, and enable access to, said different portion of the patient's body. [0016] In all of the above-described embodiments, the patient's modesty is maintained while at the same time allowing unfettered access by a health care professional to different portions of the patient's body. The gown is medical personnel convenient especially for medical procedures, while retaining wanted coverage of the patient so as to avoid embarrassment due to unavoidable, undesired exposure of the body of the patient. [0017] The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0018] FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a patient gown having upper and lower drapes in their respective covering positions in accordance with one embodiment of this invention; [0019] FIG. 2 is a broken-away perspective view of the gown of FIG. 1 with the upper drape raised to its exposed position; Continue reading about Patient gown... Full patent description for Patient gown Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Patient gown patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Patient gown or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Thermal insulation padding for protective garment Next Patent Application: Hat with multi-stretchable headband Industry Class: Apparel ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Patient gown patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.22936 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Accenture , Agouron Pharmaceuticals , Amgen , AT&T , Bausch & Lomb , Callaway Golf 174 |
 * Protect your Inventions * US Patent Office filing 
PATENT INFO |
|
