Abstract:
A system for medically treating a child comprising a flexible membrane, with indicia thereon, and a plurality of portions, extending distally along the membrane from the start portion. Each portion has at least a second indicia thereon. The second indicia has a characteristic indicative of the developmental age of a child disposed along the membrane. At least one book has pages, each page of the book having the one of the respective at least second indicia thereon. Each page having at least a third indicia corresponding to at least one of a medicine and dosage and the item of medical equipment and size for use with a child of the developmental age indicated by the at least second indicia.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to Provisional Patent Application No. 61/657,430, filed Jun. 8, 2012, the contents of which are incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    This application is directed to a system for resuscitating a child, and more particularly, to a system which utilizes coding to link the developmental age of a child to the appropriate equipment and/or drug dosages in a way that alerts all in the treatment area of these appropriate dosages and equipment sizes. 
         [0003]    The dose of medication and the size of medical equipment must be appropriate if the patient is to receive the best treatment. In an emergency situation, selections must be made quickly and under pressure; with life and death consequences. 
         [0004]    The selection of the appropriate dosage of medication or the appropriate sized instrument becomes more acute when dealing with pediatric patients. By way of example, endotracheal tubes have as many as ten different diameters which may be used to secure the airway of a patient. The time required to identify the appropriate endotracheal tube and then select the appropriate tube from a collection of endotracheal tubes would be costly to the treatment process, putting the patient at critical risk. Picking too big a tube could damage the airways, permanently hurting or even killing the patient. 
         [0005]    A similar scenario is involved with creating the appropriate volume dosage of a medication. 
         [0006]    In an attempt to streamline the process, it is known in the art to use the Broselow Measuring Tape which has indicia thereon for measuring a patient. The indicia represents increments in body weight of the patient. Indicia for drug dosages, tube sizes and other medical equipment sizes are disposed on the tape near the corresponding indication for that child&#39;s estimated weight. 
         [0007]    The prior art has been satisfactory, however during emergency treatment, because the dosages and equipment indication are printed on the measuring tape, it makes use of the tape difficult. The tape requires constant adjustment and movement of the tape relative to the body of the person being measured in order to measure the length of the child, determine the recommended dosages and equipment, all at the same time confirming that the initial reading was correct. The system is limited to the drugs and dosages printed on the tape making changes to the system difficult, and ignoring some necessary treatments. Lastly, the tape lists milligram dosages of drugs requiring health care providers to perform a mathematical calculation for the use of each drug. These shortcomings often result in prescribing the wrong medication dosage or selecting the wrong sized equipment. 
         [0008]    One attempt to overcome the shortcoming is to measure a specific anatomical dimension correlated to a code. The code may be a color or a pattern which is used to identify and select medication dosage, medical equipment and/or medical supplies. The equipment and medication supplies are grouped by this code and contained in packages bearing the code. 
         [0009]    Although this overcomes some of the shortcomings of the prior art; in a situation where a team is involved with treating a pediatric patient, they must all rely on the initial read and the conveyance of that information to the group by the person who determines the code in order for them to select equipment. This lends itself to miscommunication and makes true team care difficult and prone to error. Again, this may result in mistreatment which may result in death. Furthermore, Broselow provides no mechanism for double checking medicine calculations. 
         [0010]    Accordingly, a system which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art is desired. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    A system for medically treating a child includes a flexible membrane with indicia thereon. At least a first indicia indicates a start point for measuring the child, and at least a second indicia has a characteristic indicative of the developmental age of the child disposed along the membrane. At least one book has a page corresponding to at least one of the at least second indicia. In one embodiment of the invention, the at least one page within the book has the at least second indicia thereon, and a third indicia identifying equipment size corresponding to the proper equipment for a child having the developmental age indicated by the at least second indicia. A page within the book having the at least second indicia thereon and a fourth indicia indicating a volume dosage of medicine to be administered to a child of the developmental age indicated by the at least second indicia. 
         [0012]    In another embodiment of the invention, a second book has a page therein having the at least the second indicia thereon for placing in plain view. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    The present disclosure is better understood by reading the written description with reference to the accompanying drawing figures, in which the reference numerals denote the similar structure and refer to the element throughout in which: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  is a schematic representation of one embodiment of a linear strip incremented with indicia in accordance with the invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is a cover of a book indicative of age, color and weight in accordance with the invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a page from the age, color, weight guide constructed in accordance with the invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is a book for use in an emergency room in accordance with the invention; 
           [0018]      FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b  are a page of the book shown in  FIG. 4  listing drug information for administering drugs corresponding to the developmental age of a patient as indicated in accordance with the invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is a second page of the book indicating equipment to be utilized for a child of the developmental age indicated in accordance with the invention; 
           [0020]      FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b  are a poster for use in a hospital or other treating facility in accordance with the invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a kit constructed in accordance with the invention; and 
           [0022]      FIG. 9  is a badge constructed in accordance with the invention having indicia thereon for the administration of medication as a function of the developmental age of the patient in accordance with the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0023]    Reference is first made to  FIG. 1  which is a strip, generally indicated as  10 , preferably formed from a flexible material for use in determining an indicia  16 ,  18  corresponding to the developmental age of a child. The strip  10  includes a first region  12  which is indicia for the start of the measurement to properly orient the patient quickly and clearly. Region  12  is preferably formed of a clear bright color to make the start point easily recognizable. In a preferred embodiment, text, such as START HERE may be placed within region  12 . 
         [0024]    A plurality of regions  14  extend from start region  12  along the entire length of strip  10 . The relative distance of a distal portion relative to proximal region  12  is indicative of the developmental age of the child, so that the foot of the child laid along strip  10  if landing within a region  14  will correspond to a developmental age indicated by either indicia  16  or  18 , or both. Indicia  16  is a word text indicating a developmental age corresponding to the developmental age represented by a respective region  14 . Furthermore, a portion of the region may have a non-text indicia  18  such as a background color in a non-limiting exemplary embodiment. 
         [0025]    In this way, a first region  14  corresponding to newborns, will have the word newborn text indicia  16  spelling out NEWBORN and a background color indicia of gray, whereas a second region  14  having text indicia  16 ′ corresponding to a four month old and a differentiating background color indicia  18 ′ of pink. This differentiation indicia occurs along strip  10  such as text indicia  16 ″ indicating a six year old through an eight year old with a single non-text background color indicia  18 ″ of orange. 
         [0026]    No two regions  14  will have the same non-text (color) indicia or text indicia. In other words, a respective non-text indicia  18  and/or text indicia  16  corresponds to its own region  14  which is a function of developmental age. The indicias  16 ,  18  are selected to be clearly distinguishable from each other and readily recognizable. 
         [0027]    It should be understood that strip  10  described above may be of any length to accommodate additional age groups or more bifurcated age groups than those shown in  FIG. 1 . Additionally, the key is the use of different colors and indicia in strip  10  as well as in other corresponding members of the system, not the specific colors themselves. 
         [0028]    This system includes a series of books, at least one of which includes information about equipment and medication to be used in resuscitation of a child. Reference is now made to  FIG. 4  in which a book  100  for use by the treating physician and/or documentation nurse in resuscitating a child is provided. Pediatric Resuscitation Medication and Equipment Book (PRME)  100  includes pages such as pages  110  and  210  (see  FIGS. 5-6 ). 
         [0029]    In general, each page corresponds to information related to treating a child of a developmental age as indicated utilizing strip  10 . Indicia corresponding to at least one of indicia  16  and  18  is prominently displayed on each of pages  110  and  210 . 
         [0030]    Turning specifically, to page  110  by way of example, page  110  includes indicia  116 ,  118  which corresponds to indicia  16 ,  18  of strip  10  for easy and consistent reference. Therefore, by way of example, page  110  includes information for the administration of drugs to treat an eight year old child. The non-text indicia  118  may be presented in one of two ways as a background to text indicia  116  or as the actual color of text indicia  116 . 
         [0031]    Often the administration of drugs is not only a function of developmental size, but of weight. Therefore, in a preferred, non-limiting embodiment, indicia  120  indicating an average weight of an eight year old child is provided. Again, this indicia may be expressed in the color corresponding to the developmental age of an eight year old as found in indicia  16  of a region  14  of strip  10 . 
         [0032]    The table at page  110  includes columns corresponding to information required for the proper administration of a drug. Column  120  includes indicia for the drug to be administered. Column  130  is the concentration of the drug. Column  40  corresponds to the volume of the drug to be administered. Column  150  indicates the method of administration, intravenous (IV), intranasal (IN), or intramuscular (IM). Column  160  corresponds to the first calculation for determining the amount of the drug to be administered as a function of the weight of the child. Column  170  indicates the milligram dosage to be administered and column  180  corresponds to a step two; the mathematical equation required to convert from mg to ml. Each of the columns is indicated by “drug” indicia  122 , “concentration” indicia  132 , “volume” indicia  142 , “route” indicia  152 , “step one” indicia  162 , “dose” indicia  172 , and “step two” indicia  182 , so that the attendant making use of this information readily knows what the information within each column means. 
         [0033]    Page  110  includes drug dosage indicia set up as a chart to easily and readily provide information for the proper dosage and administration of the drugs to be used. Although the system may be used for the treatment of a child in any medical situation, it is particularly designed to facilitate the rapid treatment of a child in an emergency situation, such as those found by in an emergency room treating physician or an emergency responder. 
         [0034]    As a result, in a first organization methodology, the drugs are grouped by the activity for which they are most likely to be administered. Accordingly, a first category  190  is resuscitation while a second group  192  is seizure and a third group  194  is all other foreseeable emergency response drugs. Within each category, drug indicia  124  are listed as indicia for drugs  124   1 - 124   n  in alphabetical order within each category  190 ,  192 ,  194 . By way of example, the first drug indicia  124   1  of group  190  for resuscitation is AMIODARONE. Similarly, the first drug indicia in group  192  for administration for seizure has indicia  124   1  to indicate FOSPHENYTOIN, and lastly the first drug indicia listed in group  194  is indicated as indicia  124   1  to indicate ADENOSINE. 
         [0035]    The proper dosage and administration of drugs are often prepared on the fly in situ. Accordingly, the next category within each group is the concentration  132 , the desired volume of the drug, the route  150 , as indicated by indicia  152  and the method of calculation to prepare the correct administration including the calculations needed to be done in a step one column  160  to determine the dose as indicated by indicia  174   1 - 174   n  in column  170  and in the second step column  180 . 
         [0036]    It should be noted, that while medicine is a science, there are many ways to treat the same condition. Each hospital, each emergency response vehicle, may have its own protocol for treating the same condition. Therefore, each book may be customized with respect to medication and treatment procedures chosen by each group. 
         [0037]    In one embodiment, the drugs required for treating a particular condition may be listed in the order needed for treatment prior to intubation of a child. Although three groups of procedures have been shown above, listings may be broken out by other specific procedures for conditions such as cardiac arrest, seizures, rapid sequence induction (RSI), and overdose reversal. By way of non-limiting example three different regimens of RSI: General RSI (patients who do not fall into the following two categories), Increased Intracranial Pressure (ICP RSI), and SEPSIS RSI may be broken out into their own groups. 
         [0038]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 6  in which a second page  210  of PRME  100  having equipment indicia thereon is shown. A page  210  includes indicia  216 ,  218  corresponding to a child having a developmental age of eight years, which is substantially identical to the indicia  16 ,  18  in portion  14  of strip  10  corresponding to a child of eight years old. Namely, text indicia  216  indicates eight years on a non-text background indicia  218 , which in this non-limiting example, is the same color as the eight year developmental age portion  14  (orange). 
         [0039]    Page  210  includes an equipment section indicated by equipment heading  222  and an application section indicated by application heading  230 . There is a single equipment indicia column identifying equipment by name in each row  224   1 - 224   n , and a second column with rows  226   1 - 226   n  indicating the size but only for the size of equipment appropriate for the child of a developmental age indicated by either one of indicia  216 ,  218 . 
         [0040]    Additionally, a drug application indicia  230  such as drip rates may be provided on the same page. Continuous Infusion section  230  includes a column  232  having drug indicia  240   1 - 240   n  indicating the drug to be continuously infused. A concentration column headed by indicia concentration  234  includes concentration values  242   1 - 242   n  for the drugs indicated in the adjacent column. A next column  236  indicating the rate of continuous infusion includes specific rates as shown by indicia  241   1 - 244   n  for the drugs indicated under the continuous infusion indicia  232 . Lastly, dose indicia  238  heads a column of indicia for actual dosages for each drug, dose indicia  246   1 - 246   n  corresponds to a child having eight year developmental age for the drugs indicated. Accordingly, a treating physician or attendant, by reading across the row, would know for a desired drug (listed in substantially alphabetical order) the concentration, the rate and the dosage. 
         [0041]    The above system is a new and improved system for insuring that the proper medicine dosage and size of equipment is utilized on a child. However, in an emergency situation, where multiple attendees are administering to a child, all of the responders may not literally be on the same page. It should be noted, that several books  100  may be in use within the same treating area at a single time, or a single book may be shared between several attendants. By way of example, in an emergency room setting, where there will be the attending physician and at least one attending nurse, if not more, each of which must put down the book in order to perform their tasks, there is a probability that at least one of the attendants will end up on the wrong page. Therefore, to even better aid the entire treating team, a portion of the system provides an aid for keeping track of the page within book  100  to be referenced. 
         [0042]    Reference is now made to  FIGS. 7   a - 7   b  in which a poster  310  corresponding to the medical equipment to be utilized in treating a child is provided. Poster  310  contains much of the information on pages  110  and  210  and is placed in a conspicuous place so as to viewed by all attendants. Poster  310  is also arranged in the form of a table. The first column has equipment indicia  324 , and lists equipment to be used in any procedure. Because this is a poster, it is to be used in situ; it preferably contains information for all anticipated procedures in one place, rather than having multiple posters for each procedure. Therefore, each of the remaining columns includes indicia corresponding to each respective portion  14  of strip  10 . Each column head has a text indicia  316  and a non-text indicia  318 , such as color, which corresponds to the text indicia  16  and non-text indicia  18  of a respective one of each portion of strip  10  in a one to one match. 
         [0043]    Accordingly, row  324  has indicia of equipment  326   1 - 326   n  corresponding to pediatric equipment to be used in anticipated emergency procedures. The subsequent rows of each of the columns include indicia for the size of the equipment indicated in indicia  326  for the developmental age indicated by the indicia heading of each column. 
         [0044]    By way of example, a blade as indicated from  326   2  is a size one straight, as indicated in indicia  328   2  and  330   1  for a newborn through six month old. However, reading across the row, the blade to be used if the column head indicates a five to six year old is a 2 curved or 2 straight as indicated by indicia  334   2 . Similarly, a blood pressure cuff as indicated by indicia  326   n  in the equipment column (reading across the row) is an infant/child sized blood pressure cuff as indicated by indicia  330   n  for a four month old or six month old, and a small adult size as indicated by indicia  342   n  for a nine to thirteen year old. In this way, a quick reference guide is provided to select the right size equipment as a function of determining the developmental size utilizing strip  10 . 
         [0045]    It should be noted that one important aspect of the invention is to provide information linked to indicia determinative of developmental age as determined from strip  10 . The information within book  100  is presented in a way that makes selecting the correct page or instrument simple; facilitating the reading of the desired information from the page. Therefore, there are many alternative ways for those skilled in the art to present the information. Also, it should be noted that a poster  310  may just as easily include medical dosage indicia. 
         [0046]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 2  in which book  400  which is an age color weight guide constructed in accordance with the invention is provided. Book  400  includes on its cover indicia  402  with operating instructions for use of the book. The indicia indicates that first a child is measured with strip  10 , the zone is determined by the head-to-heel length of the child as compared to strip  10 , and then the indicia  16 , 18  in this non-limiting example, color, or actual developmental age number is to be made known to all of the attendants. 
         [0047]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 3  which is a page  410  within age, color, weight guide book  400  which is used to make the region  14  (zone) known to all attendants. Page  410  includes a non-text indicia  418  which is a background color corresponding to the non-text indicia of a region  14  on strip  10 . It also includes text indicia  416  which includes at least the development text of the developmental age of the child as determined utilizing strip  10 , indicates the color of the background for anyone who may be color blind or for easy reference for those who read more quickly than the recognized color, and optionally the ideal body weight of a child of that developmental age. 
         [0048]    In this non-limiting example, the background non-text indicia  416  of page  410  would be a color such as orange, corresponding to a color of a non-text indicia  18  of strip  10 , and also corresponds to the non-text indicia of the page corresponding to the indicated developmental age within PRME  100  of the appropriate developmental age child. 
         [0049]    During use, a child suffering a critical condition needing resuscitation, or some other acute care is identified. The child is laid head-to-heel along strip  10 , with the head at indicator  12 . The strip is laid along the child to determine within which portion  14  the heel resides. The indicator  16 ,  18  is determined. 
         [0050]    Book  400  is opened to the page having indicia  416 ,  418  corresponding to the indicia of  16 ,  18  of the determined portion  14 . The page is then placed in a prominent position within the room for all attendants to see. Then, each of second books  200  is opened to the page having indicia  116 ,  118 , by way of example, corresponding to a displayed page of book  400 , which also corresponds to the determined portion  14  of strip  10 . Then, treatment begins utilizing the medicine and equipment as determined from the tables on the respective pages of the PRME book  100 . In this way, the attendants do not have to remeasure the child to continuously confirm the developmental age; facilitating movement of the child during any procedure. 
         [0051]    It should be readily understood, that if in the field, one would skip the step of utilizing age, color, weight, guide book  400 . In a non-preferred embodiment, age, weight guide book  400  may also be skipped even in the hospital emergency room situation. However, this may increase the likelihood of human error. 
         [0052]    Although the system, as described above, provides the system and methodology for recognizing the appropriate medicine and equipment, it does not guarantee that the appropriate medicine and equipment is utilized. Therefore, as a further component to facilitate the correct equipment and medication, it is also part of the system to arrange the equipment within discrete packages in which all of the equipment or all of the medicine to be administered corresponds to the medicine and equipment indicated to belong to a child of that developmental age. 
         [0053]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 8  in which a system  600  for use in the field is provided. Like numbers are utilized to indicate like structure for ease of discussion. System  600 , which is adapted for use in the field includes strip  10 , and PMRE  100 . Because system  600  is for the field, system  600  includes a carrying case  500  for storage of medical equipment and books  100  and/or  700 . Book  700  is identical in functionality to book  100 . It is well within the scope of the invention that in the field, only one book need be used at the discretion of the emergency response team operator. 
         [0054]    System  600  includes a plurality of packages  610 - 670 , each having indicia  650  thereon for indicating a developmental age of a child corresponding to a portion  14  of strip  10 . Within each package may be stored equipment corresponding to that developmental age and/or proposed medication corresponding to the developmental age of the child indicated by indicia  650 . In this way, it may be possible, at least as to equipment, to skip the use of PMRE  100 . In another embodiment, preferred embodiment PMRE  100  lists only medications. 
         [0055]    In a preferred embodiment, packages  600  are lightweight pliable pouches having interior compartments designed to receive the equipment identified within PMRE  100 . It should be understood, that in a hospital situation, packages  610 - 670  may be replaced by a cabinet with packages formed as drawers  610 - 670  with indicia  650  on the outer door of each drawer. 
         [0056]    In emergency situations, the ability to make determinations quickly and easily while maintaining accuracy is important. Therefore, any component of the system must have indicia which is easily determined to correspond to the identified portion of strip  10 . 
         [0057]    To facilitate the determination of drug dosages in the field, a responder may use a badge  900  as shown in  FIG. 9 . Badge  900  includes tables  910 , each including indicia  912  include a non-text indicia component  918 , which may be a background color by way of example corresponding to non-text indicia  18  of strip  10 , and text indicia  916  corresponding to the developmental age indicated by indicia  918  and  18 . Each table  910  includes a list of the drugs and equipment needed for the anticipated emergency, in this case, resuscitation, so that in a first column drugs and equipment are indicated and in an adjacent column dosage and size of equipment are provided for a quick reference. Furthermore additional indicia  930  corresponding to the text indicia  18  and non-text indicia  16  of each portion  14 , may also be provided adjacent the corresponding table  910  for additional quick reference. 
         [0058]    While this invention has been particularly shown and described to reference the preferred embodiments thereof, it would be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.