TEACHING DEVICE FOR ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION

Abstract: An artificial respiration teaching device having in combination a hollow plastic head having mouth and throat openings, an inflatable bag removeably attached about the throat opening and adapted to receive air blown into the mouth of the head and through the throat.

Description: Technical Field This invention relates to a device for teaching artificial respiration to students. Background Art Artificial respiration is an important aspect of the teaching program in first aid courses and swimming courses. One of the most popular methods of artificial respiration involves blowing air from the lungs of the rescuer into the lungs of the victim. Since this method requires mouth-to-mouth contact between the rescuer and the victim, it is sometimes difficult to teach the technique in a class. Students may object to taking the course if it requires them to make mouth-to-mouth contact with other students who may be strangers to them. As a result, artificial respiration dolls have been used to help students overcome the social embarrassment associated with mouth-to-mouth contact with a stranger. Accordingly, it has become commonplace to use a doll to initiate students to the concepts of the mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration technique. Since the types of dolls which have been developed for teaching tend to be expensive, it is commonplace for each student to take a turn practicing the technique on the doll. Where many students use the same doll, it is most important that the doll be cleaned between uses to avoid the transmission of viruses and germs between the students. Methods of cleaning such dolls have been developed but there is another problem which remains unsolved, that is, even if the doll is perfectly clean, it may not be perceived to be clean by the students in the course or by prospective students about to enroll in such a course. Concern about the transmission of diseases is increasing. Persons who may not appear to be ill and who may not know that they are ill may be carriers of debilitating or even fatal diseases. As a result, it is perceived that there is increasing reluctance of students to enroll in courses or to participate in exercises that require them to expose themselves to real or imagined risks of disease transmission. Patent Specification DE-A-1126170 shows a device of the relevant kind comprising a model head having air inlet openings at mouth and nose, a conduit leading therefrom to a valve, and another conduit leading from the valve to an air container. The whole is intended to simulate an unconscious person lying under a blanket, and is correspondingly bulky and expensive. The Invention A device according to the invention comprises a hollow plastic head having mouth and throat openings, an inflatable bag removably attached about the throat opening and adapted to receive air blown into the mouth and through the throat, a flat portion at the back of the head to teach the student to rock the head back to open the throat of the victim. Such a device may be produced at sufficiently low cost that each student may be provided with his or her own device. The device is also adaptable to simulate the lung capacity of an adult, adolescent or child, and may be used in a pool to simulate the teaching of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of a person in the water. A flow constricting device is preferably provided in the throat to resist the flow of air. It is preferred that the head be provided with a nose opening having two nostrils so that the student can simulate pinching the nose closed while blowing air into the mouth. The bag which receives the air may be attached to the neck by means of an elastic fitted about the bag and the neck. The neck portion may have a groove about its circumference to receive the bag and the elastic. The capacity of the bag may be adjusted by placing the elastic about the bag at different intervals along the bag's length. Drawings: Figure 1 is a side view of the head of the preferred embodiment of the invention. Figure 2 is an exploded view of the components of the preferred embodiment of the invention. Figure 3 is a side view of the components of the combination of the preferred embodiment of the invention fastened together. Best Mode Referring to Figure 1, the head (10) is a hollow plastic shell having openings for nostrils (12), mouth (14) and a throat (16) which communicates with the interior of the hollow plastic head (10). The head (10) also has a flat portion (18) at the back of the head to permit the head to be rocked back and held firmly in the rock-back position. Because of the intercommunication of the openings of the nostrils (12), the mouth (14) and the throat (16), air may be blown into the mouth (14) to exhaust either through the nostrils (12) or the throat (16). Accordingly, a student blowing into the mouth should plug the nostrils (12) in order to direct air through the throat opening (16). The throat opening (16) is attenuated to a small diameter by comparison to the opening of the mouth in order to help constrict the flow of air thereby simulating the reverse back pressure of a lung. A number of alternative means may be used to constrict the flow through the throat area. As an example of such means, in Figure 2, the throat opening (16) is shown to have a screw-on attachment (20) which is adapted to constrict the flow of air through the throat (16). This is an alternative embodiment which permits the flow constriction device to be changed in size to simulate different back pressures for adults or children. Also illustrated in Figure 2 is the lung bag (22) and fastening elastic (24). The lung bag is adapted to fit over the neck portion of the head (10) with elastic (24) outside the bag (22) to fasten the bag (22) into the neck groove (25). Markings (26) and (28) are presented on the lung bag (22) to illustrate where the elastic should be fastened in order to simulate the lung size of an adult or a child. As illustrated in Figure 3, the lung bag is fitted over the neck groove (25) with the elastic band (24) securing the bag to the neck groove. In operation, a student fits together the components of the doll, as illustrated in Figure 3, then follows through the procedure of artificial respiration including tilting the head back to lie on the flat portion (18), pincing the nose and blowing into the mouth to inflate the bag (22) through the throat (16). The device in its combined form is water-tight except for the nostril and mouth openings (12) and (14), respectively, and therefore may be used by students in the water as well as on the side of the pool or on the beach. Students may purchase a doll as part of the tuition fee for taking the course and when they complete the course they may keep the doll for practice at home or simply dispose of it.

Claims: An artificial respiration teaching device comprising a head (10) having mouth (14) and throat (16) openings and an inflatable bag (22) adapted to receive air blown into the mouth (14) and through the throat (16) characterized in that the head (10) is of hollow plastic, the bag (22) is removably attached about the throat opening (16), and the head has a flat portion at the back adapted to permit the head to be rocked back on a flat surface to simulate the head tilting procedure commonly used to open the throat of a victim. An artificial respiration teaching device according to claim 1 having a flow constricting device (20) at the throat opening (16). An artificial respiration teaching device according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the bag (22) is adaptable to simulate the lung capacity of an adult, adolescent or child by placing an elastic about the bag at different intervals along the bag's length.

Inventors: BRAULT, RICHARD, CROTEAU, DIANNE, VINDEN, JONATHAN
Applicants: ACTAR AIRFORCE, INC.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: G09B23
IPC codes: G09B23