MEDICAL TREATMENT TROLLEY

Abstract: A medical treatment trolley that can be folded between a raised working position and a folded transport and storage position including at least two work-surfaces jointed-to-pivot, one work-surface of which (2) is firmly attached to a frame (3), while the other work-surface is arranged to be foldable. The frame (3) includes a supporting frame (5), at least two legs (6) equipped with wheels and moveable relative to the frame, and a linkage system (7) that supports and connects the supporting frame (5) to the leg (6) equipped with wheels that is jointed to pivot with the foldable work-surface (4).

Description: Medical treatment trolley TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a foldable medical treatment trolley and a method to fold the medical treatment trolley between a raised working position and a folded transport and storage position to characteristics described in claims 1 and 6. PRIOR ART Every day in health care, a great deal of variable care and treatment is carried out on different groups of patients. For example, this includes the daily care of bed-ridden in hospital, it also includes the treatment of people who come as outpatients to primary health care and it includes the performance of medical and surgical treatment of patients admitted to hospital. There is one common requirement for all of the said situations. This is to maintain the high level of hygiene that is required to eliminate the risk of spreading infection. Problems arise when the necessary equipment is not available or when the existing equipment does not make it possible for the personnel to maintain a satisfactory level of hygiene in a rational manner. This means that the risk of spreading infection arises, or increases. The German patent document DE 4217501 shows a mobile medicine trolley with several shelves arranged under each other. The aim is to provide a simple construction that is cheap to manufacture and easy to assemble. The trolley consists of two side pieces and several shelves, which can be mounted at the desired heights under each other without any great demand on precision. A hospital trolley for disinfection is shown in patent document WO 91/07159. The trolley is arranged with shelves/compartments at different levels under each other. The hospital trolley includes a closed container for disinfecting agents at the top, space for clean cloths at a lower level and under this a space for soiled cleaning cloths. Furthermore, the trolley is equipped with a rubbish bag. The aims of the invention are to keep the disinfectant agent clean during cleaning, to prevent fluid from splashing out during transport of the trolley and to keep clean and dirty cloths separate from each other in a well defined way. Problems arise for health care personnel when existing equipment does not make it possible to carry out the problematical task of distinguishing between clean and soiled or used equipment in a simple and user-friendly manner. There is thus a requirement within health care for an easily managed device that in a simple manner provides extra work-surfaces partly for clean items and partly for soiled items, and that in addition minimises the risks of spreading infection. The trolleys in the above-mentioned documents cannot satisfy this requirement. THE INVENTION The risk of spreading infection / bacteria from one person to another is always present in health care. It is therefore required that tasks are carried out in such a fashion that no spreading of bacteria / infection occurs during treatment. In order to satisfy this requirement, health care personnel work according to defined routines and they must constantly follow the requirement to keep clean and soiled items separate from each other, and at the same time not to transmit bacteria / infection from one person to another. There are no work-surfaces available in a hospital room for daily care. This work includes, for example, washing the patient, changing to clean clothes and exchanging the bedclothes for clean ones. It is not unusual that the personal bed-side table of the patient must be used as storage space for the above-mentioned equipment. It is also possible that the items are placed on the floor or on the bed of the patient. None of these alternatives is satisfactory from the point of view of the risk of spreading bacteria and other infection. Sacks of soiled textiles also involve a risk of infection and they should not be present on the wards / hospital rooms. One situation in which it is important that the requirement of a sterile environment is satisfied is the insertion of catheters in bed-ridden patients. In this case, it is necessary to store clean and soiled equipment at the same time. The same is true during the insertion of a catheter for an intravenous drip. Minor operations, such as the removal of birth marks, are carried out in primary health care on an outpatient basis. In these situations, a clean work-surface is required in order to place sterile equipment ready for use, and at the same time, another work-surface is required onto which soiled equipment can be placed. Operations are carried out in hospitals in the surgical unit, and there is also here a requirement to be able to place clean / sterile equipment ready for use on a work-surface, while at the same time and at a distance from this surface, be able to collect used / soiled equipment. All instruments, cloths, threads, needles and similar items are counted during a surgical procedure in order to eliminate the risk that something is left behind in some part of the body. It should be possible, therefore, to place the used equipment in a line on a work-surface in order to make the counting easier. In all of the care situations described above, a device is needed with which it is possible to handle clean and soiled equipment at a distance from each other in a simple manner that is acceptable from the point of view of hygiene. The device must at the same time be user- friendly in order to ensure that the health care personnel are willing to use it. This means that it must be easy to move between various wards, rooms and patients. Furthermore, it should be easy to clean the device. In addition, it should be possible to store the device in a minimal space when it is not being used. The medical treatment trolley according to the invention makes it possible to fulfil the requirements of hygiene in a rational and easy manner, and thus health care personnel will be willing to use it. The design of the invention gives a stable and user- friendly medical treatment trolley that displays no risk of tipping over. Furthermore, the invention is secured against unintentional folding up caused by collision with another item, a wall, or similar. Furthermore, the construction provides a flexible medical treatment trolley, where the user can decide to erect only one or several work-surfaces. The wheels are withdrawn a certain distance relative to the work-surface to make the medical treatment trolley easy to push in front on oneself without tripping over the wheels. The medical treatment trolley is easy to handle regardless of whether it is folded up, or whether one or more work-surfaces are raised. It can also be carried and moved when in a raised position, whether loaded or unloaded, without risk of folding up. The medical treatment trolley according to the invention has work-surfaces manufactured in stainless steel. The work-surfaces are cleaned between each use with alcohol as a bactericide. The medical treatment trolley is designed so that it can easily be showered in a wash-room, if required. In one design of the invention, a container for alcohol is arranged on the trolley. The use of the invention is based on an established system in health care, which everyone who works in health care learns during their training, namely that everything that is clean is placed to the right, and everything that is soiled is placed to the left. Thus, clean clothes and bedclothes, sterile equipment for the insertion of a catheter and sterile equipment for smaller and larger operations, etc. are placed on the work-surface to the right of the fixed work- surface. Soiled clothes and bedclothes, and used / soiled equipment, etc. are placed on the equivalent left-hand side. The fixed work-surface in the centre remains, and is used as a work- surface as required. In this way, the invention makes rational health care work possible. DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES The invention will be more closely explained by description of an embodiment referring to the attached drawings, where Figures la and lb shows a medical treatment trolley according to the invention with two work-surfaces raised in the working position, Figure 2 shows one side of a medical treatment trolley in which one work-surface has been folded to a position halfway between the working position and the transport position, Figure 3 shows a medical treatment trolley with two folded work-surfaces. DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT A medical treatment trolley (1) can be folded between a raised working position (Fig. la, lb) and a folded transport and storage position (Fig. 3). The work-surface consists of three parts a fixed area (2) arranged on a frame (3) and two foldable work- surfaces (4) arranged to hinge along the opposite long sides of the fixed area (2). The foldable work-surfaces (4) are jointed to pivot with the frame (3). The frame includes a supporting frame (5), two legs (6) that are moveable with respect to the frame and that are equipped with wheels, and a linkage system (7) that is arranged to pivot between the supporting frame (5) and the respective wheeled legs (6). The frame consists of a tube construction in the embodiment shown. The supporting frame (5) is built up of two end pieces. Each end piece (Fig lb) consists of three vertical tubes (8a, 8b, 8c) that are connected at their lower ends by a common horizontal straight tube (9). The upper ends of the vertical tubes are arranged to attach to the lower surface of the fixed work-surface (2). The end pieces are mutually parallel and are furthermore parallel with the broad side of the fixed work- surface. The end pieces are connected by tubes (10) arranged at a fixed distance from each other between the respective horizontal tubes of the end pieces (9). In order to give the supporting frame (5) a suitable symmetry, the length of the vertical tubes of the end pieces is less than the height of the medical treatment trolley, which means that the supporting frame is always placed at a distance from the floor. The extension of the end pieces in the vertical plane is less than the width of the work-surfaces A (Fig la). Furthermore, the distance between the end pieces is less than the length of the fixed work-surface B. This symmetry ensures that the medical treatment trolley occupies a minimum of space when in the folded position. The leg (6) that is equipped with wheels includes a U-shaped tube consisting of a yoke (11) and a pair of shanks (13). The U-shaped yoke (11) is arranged upside down with wheels (12) attached at the ends of the two shanks (13). The shanks (13) are connected by a cross-piece (14) attached above but close to the wheels (12). A member / tube (15) is attached between the cross-piece (14) and the yoke (11) parallel to and between the shanks (13). A pair of linkage arms (16) are arranged to pivot on the yoke (11) on each side of the upper attachment point of the tube (15). The linkage arms (16) are arranged to pivot at their other ends on the lower surface of the foldable work-surface (4). The linkage arms (16) pivot around horizontal axes of rotation. The linkage system (7) includes (Fig la) two jointed-to-pivot arm sections (17, 18) in the form of quadruply- linked constructions of welded tubes. The arm section (18) is jointed to pivot with the leg (6) in that one vertically oriented tube in the quadruply-linked construction (18) is shorter than the tube (15) and encloses it in a manner that allows free turning. The arm section (17) is jointed to pivot in the same way to the tube (8b) in the supporting frame in that one vertical tube in the quadruply-linked construction (17) is shorter than the tube (8b) and encloses it in a manner that allows free turning. The arm sections (17, 18) are connected to each other by the joint (19) in that the second vertically oriented tube of the arm section (18) encloses the equivalent second vertically oriented tube of the arm section (17) in a manner that allows free rotation. The arm sections rotate in the joint around (19) the vertical axis C and the rotation is limited by a stop screw (not shown) once the arm has reached its full length. In order to be able to control the raising and folding of the medical treatment trolley, the frame (Figure 2) is equipped with a handle (20). The handle (20) is attached to a tube (21) that encloses the tube (8c) in a manner that allows free rotation. Locking rings (22) fix the vertical position of the tube (21). A linkage (23) is attached to the tube (21), and this linkage meets a linkage (24) at a toggle joint (25). The linkage (24) is arranged at its other end to rotate around the common joint of the arm sections (19), allowing rotation around the vertical C axis. The tube (21) and the linkages (23) and (24) together form a locking arm (26). The starting point is a medical treatment trolley in its raised working position (Fig. 1). The following procedure is used to fold the trolley. The handle (20) is lifted up. The handle (20) and thus the tube (21) and the linkage (23) are rotated in a clockwise direction. Thus, the toggle joint (25) folds up, the linkage (24) and also the joint connection (19) are carried along with it and the linkage system folds up by the arm sections (17) and (18) being drawn in towards the end pieces of the supporting frame (8). This causes the leg equipped with wheels to be drawn in towards the end piece (8) (towards the right in Figure 2) while keeping it parallel, which in turn means that the linkage arms (16) follow and take with them the foldable work-surface (4). In the folded position (Figure 3) the locking arm (26) is folded up, the arm (7) is folded in towards the end piece (8), the leg (6) has been moved in a parallel manner in towards the end piece as far as is possible, and the work-surface (4) is folded down, parallel with the leg (6). The following procedure is followed to raise the medical treatment trolley from its transport / storage position (Fig. 3) to the raised position. The folded down work-surface (4) is raised manually. As the work-surface is turned / lifted, the leg equipped with wheels follows with it, and moves in a parallel manner away from the end piece (8). The linkage system (7) is unfolded, as is the locking arm (26). When the work-surface (4) has reached its horizontal position, the leg (6) has been moved as far as the linkage system (7) allows. The locking arm (26) has now reached the locking position in the collapsible joint (25) and the medical treatment trolley is in its working position. It is also possible to arrange the folding of the medical treatment trolley using a pneumatic cylinder. The regulator for raising and folding can then be arranged to be easily accessible on the frame. In one embodiment of the invention, the arm is designed to be telescopic. In another embodiment, the handle has a locking function when-in its folded down vertical position. This means that the medical treatment trolley can be locked in its raised position by turning the handle (20). In another embodiment of the invention, a container for waste is arranged between the end pieces (8) of the supporting frame. The container can also be arranged to fold outwards. It is also possible to make the medical treatment trolley vertically adjustable.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Medical treatment trolley (1) that can be folded between a raised working position and a folded transport and storage position including at least two jointed-to-pivot work-surfaces of which one work-surface (2) is firmly attached to a frame (3) and the other work- surface (4) is arranged to be foldable characterised in that the frame (3) includes a supporting frame (5), at least two legs (6) equipped with wheels and moveable relative to the frame, and a linkage system (7) that supports and connects the supporting frame (5) to the leg (6) equipped with wheels, which is jointed to pivot with the foldable work- surface (4). 2. Medical treatment trolley according to claim Icharacterised in that the medical treatment trolley is designed with at least two foldable work-surfaces (4). 3. Medical treatment trolley according to claim Icharacterised in that the fixed surface is firmly attached to the supporting frame (5). 4. Medical treatment trolley according to claim Icharacterised in that the linkage system (7) is extensible. 5. Medical treatment trolley according to claim Icharacterised in that the work- surfaces are manufactured in stainless steel. 6. Method to fold a medical treatment trolley according to claim 1 between a folded transport / storage position and a raised working position characterised in that the linkage system that is jointed to pivot with the supporting frame (5) is opened up /closed down along its long axis, whereby the leg connected to the linkage system (7) is moved in a parallel manner away from / towards the end piece (8) in the frame, whereby the foldable work-surface (4) that is connected to the leg (6) is rotated into a horizontal / vertical position.

Inventors: HANSON INGA, HANSON, INGA
Applicants: HANSON INGA, HANSON, INGA
Application year: 1999
Main classification: A61G12
IPC codes: A47B31, A61G12