Patent Publication Number: US-9894945-B2

Title: Hospital day gown

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/147,957 filed Jan. 6, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/748,852 filed Jan. 4, 2013; the disclosures of both are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     1. Technical Field 
     This disclosure relates generally to hospital gowns worn by patients and, more particularly, to a hospital day gown having features that improve patient comfort and patient care as well as making patient care easier for the health care provider. 
     2. Background Information 
     Despite countless attempts to improve the dreaded patient hospital gown, room for improvement remains in the art to provide a gown that benefits both the patient and the healthcare workers providing care to the patient. Many hospital day gowns tie up in the center of the back of the patient while almost never providing enough coverage to protect the patient&#39;s modesty. Gowns that tie in the back are difficult to don while lying in a bed and make it difficult for the healthcare workers to access the patient&#39;s arms and other medical equipment in front of the patient. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The disclosure provides a hospital gown that closes along the side and across the rear of the shoulder of the person wearing the gown. The side closure combined with different arm closures allows the gown to be used by the patient and the medical staff in different ways. The gown can be placed onto the patient without requiring the patient to sit up. The gown can be draped over the patient like a blanket. The gown can be removed from a patient while the patient is lying down in bed. The side opening of the gown allows the gown to be placed over a patient who is lying on his back without immediately wrapping the gown around the patient&#39;s body. When the patient is up and walking, the side closure and a long waist tie provide modesty. 
     The side-opening gown allows the front of the gown to be lifted to provide access to the front of the patient. This allows medical caregivers visual access to surgical sites, drain sites, and provides access to central line intravenous sites. The side-opening gown can be opened even when the patient is lying on the rear portion of the gown. This gown also provides access to both arms because both sleeves can be fully opened. 
     The gown has a body with front and rear portions with side closure edges that come together under a first sleeve of the gown and across the back of the shoulder behind the first sleeve. The side closure edges may overlap especially behind the shoulder. The first sleeve drapes over the wearer&#39;s arm and is selectively closed with fasteners under the arm. The gown&#39;s second sleeve is selectively closed over the top of the arm. The sleeves can be opened to provide access to the patient&#39;s arms and to accommodate tubes and intravenous lines. 
     In one configuration, the gown includes a telemetry pocket that is disposed over an opening in the front portion of the gown body for the telemetry wires. A second pocket may be provided in a lower section of the front portion of the gown body. The second pocket may be used as a regular pocket to hold personal items of the patient. The second pocket also can be used to hold a drainage bag and is thus disposed on the closure side of the front portion of the gown body so that drainage tubes can extend from behind the gown between the closure edges of the gown body 
     The gown may be provided in different sizes that have different colors for rapid identification. Some gowns may be provided in a different color that identifies a patient condition such as a fall risk. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front plan view of an exemplary hospital day gown having the features described herein. 
         FIG. 2  is a rear plan view of the exemplary hospital day gown shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIGS. 3A-3F  are plan views of the different sections of material used to assemble the hospital day gown of  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a front plan view of the body of the gown. 
         FIG. 5  is a front plan view of the hospital day gown opened up and spread flat. 
         FIG. 6  is a front view of the hospital day gown with the sleeves closed as when worn by a patient. 
         FIG. 7  is a front view of a person wearing the hospital day gown of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout the specification. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     A first exemplary configuration of a hospital gown is indicated generally by the numeral  2  in the accompany drawings. Gown  2  generally includes a gown body  4  having a front portion  6  and a rear portion  8  that each has a closure edge  5 . Gown body  4  is configured to have the closure edges  5  meet at the patient&#39;s side and under a sleeve. The closure edges extend from the bottom of the sleeve up and across the rear of the patient&#39;s shoulder to the neck opening. The portions of gown body  4  behind the patient&#39;s shoulder are configured to overlap as shown in  FIG. 2 . The side-fastening configuration of gown  2  makes it easy for a healthcare provider to put gown  2  on the patient when the patient is lying in a bed because gown  2  can be put on the patient by rolling or tilting the patient onto one side and slipping the rear portion of gown  2  under the patient. When the patient is returned to his back, front portion  6  is draped over the front of the patient and can be fastened at the patient&#39;s side with side ties  12 , sleeve fasteners  14 , and a neck tie  16 . Ties  12  and  16  may be ⅝ inch cotton, poly, or poly blend twill tape. An extra tie  12  may be provided inward of closure edge  5  on front portion  6  to provide adjustability. Multiple neck ties  16  may be provided about the neck opening to provide adjustability. The fasteners may be snaps, buttons, ties, strips of hook-and-loop fastener materials and the like. 
     Gown  2  includes a long tie  10  that is fastened (stitched along ten to twelve inch portion) to rear portion  8 . Tie  10  may be sixty-six inches (and two or two and a half inches wide) to provide plenty of length to tie in the front of most patients. Tie  10  may be provided in longer lengths with the extra-large size gowns  2 . Tie  10  may be formed from a double layer of fabric. Tie  10  may be pulled around the patient&#39;s waist to provide an attractive look and avoids the tent look of a typical gown. 
     Gown  2  is provided in different sizes. A first size covering those patients whom wear small- and medium-sized clothing and a second size for those patients whom wear large- and extra large-sized clothing. The sizes are color coded, provided in different patterns, or combinations of colors and patterns so the staff can readily separate the gowns and pull the correct size gown for a patient without looking at labels. A third size may be provided in a still different color or pattern (or combination of both) for larger patients. In addition, all size gowns may be provided with a different color or different pattern (or combination of both) to be used with patients who are fall risks so that such patients can be readily identified by any caregiver working with or encountering the patient. In one exemplary configuration, the first size may be a blue print (or a blue fabric), the second size may be a green print (or a green fabric), and the fall risk gowns may be provided in red (pattern or fabric). 
     Gown  2  is formed from seven or eight parts as shown in  FIGS. 3A-F . The parts are sewn together as shown in  FIG. 5  to define gown body  4 . The parts include a body section  20  (which can be provided in one or two parts) which defines front portion  6  and rear portion  8 , a small pocket  22 , a large pocket  24 , a pair of left sleeve sections  26 , a right sleeve  28 , and belt tie  10 . All of the parts may be formed from a durable washable fabric such as a cotton-polyester blend (45/55 or 65/35). 
     Body  4  has a V-shaped neck opening  40  which immediately allows the user to determine which side of gown  2  is the front. The V-neck may be lined or edged with a liner tape  42  such as a twill tape. This tape  42  may be a bright color to help identify the front of gown  2 . The V-neck  40  reduces the problem of the gown pinching the patient&#39;s neck when the patient sits or lies on the gown and pulls the front of the gown up towards the patient&#39;s neck. 
     Small pocket  22  is used with telemetry patients. Body section  20  defines an opening  50  behind small pocket  22  to allow cardiac wires to be threaded through body section  22  into the pocket formed by small pocket  22  so that a transmitter can be carried in small pocket  22 . Pocket  22  may be disposed on the patient&#39;s right side or the patient&#39;s left side. Opening  50  can be horizontal or vertical. 
     Large pocket  24  is used to allow the patient to carry miscellaneous items when the patient is ambulating. Large pocket  24  also is used to carry a drainage bag or can carry the drainage bag on a drain loop  52  with a hook. Pocket  24  is disposed on the side of front portion  6  that terminates at the closure edge. Drain loop  52  is marked as “Drain Loop” so it is not tied or used for something else. The tubing can be threaded out of the right-side opening of gown  2 . Drain loop  52  can hold the drain tubing. Large pocket  24  may be branded with the manufacturer logo or the facility logo. An additional twill tape tie  12  may be provided at the bottom of pocket  24  to help hold the edge of gown  2  closed. 
     Gown  2  is configured to allow access to both of the patient&#39;s arms because both sleeves  26  and  28  open along their lengths and selectively fasten with fasteners  14  and  60 . These fasteners are typically snaps but may be ties similar to ties  12  or  16 . These fasteners  14  and  60  allow gown  2  to be removed and replaced without interfering with intravenous tubing. In  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the last corner snap  60  at the bottom the sleeve may be removed. The patient&#39;s left sleeve  26  opens along its top and the right sleeve  28  opens along the bottom in line with the right-side opening of gown  2 . 
     The exemplary configuration of gown  2  opens along its right side so that the front of gown  2  may be lifted to provide access to the front of the patient. This allows medical caregivers visual access to surgical sites, drain sites, access central line intravenous sites, and the like. Gown  2  can be opened even when the patient is lying on rear portion  8  and it is not need to access these sites. 
     Gown  2  can be opened out flat and placed over an immobile patient in a bed. Rear portion  8  can be left to the side of the patient until the patient is in condition to be tilted or rolled to a side and rear portion  8  placed under the patient. This configuration also allows gown  2  to be placed over patient and not tied in place until the patient is ready to have it tied around his body. The patient can lie of his back when gown  2  is tied in place. 
     Gown  2  opens along the right side but front portion  6  and rear portion  8  overlap so that the patient is covered when ambulating. Rear portion  8  completely covers the rear of patient and thus makes the patient more comfortable and more likely to ambulate. 
     In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed. Moreover, the description and illustration of the invention is an example and the invention is not limited to the exact details shown or described. Throughout the description and claims of this specification the words “comprise” and “include” as well as variations of those words, such as “comprises,” “includes,” “comprising,” and “including” are not intended to exclude additives, components, integers, or steps.