Self-donning surgical gown

Abstract

The invention relates to a nonwoven gown made of a gown body terminating in two edges at a back of the gown. The gown contains a closure member that extends around the gown body and terminates at each edge. Manipulation of the closure member moves at least one of the edges toward the other thereby closing the back of the gown. A fastener located along at least a portion of at least one of the edges may be provided. Some suitable fasteners include tape, hook and loop type fasteners, and / or snaps. Such a gown enables a wearer to close and secure the gown by himself while keeping his hands sterile.

Description

BACKGROUND [0001] The present invention relates to gowns and other garments and particularly to surgical gowns. More particularly, this invention relates to improved gown closure mechanisms that enable a gown wearer to close the back of a gown without moving his hands outside a region commonly referred to as the “sterile zone” thus minimizing the risk of hand contamination prior to a surgical procedure. [0002] As is generally known, sterile surgical gowns are designed to greatly reduce, if not prevent, the transmission through the gown of liquids and biological contaminants that may become entrained therein. In surgical procedure environments, such liquid sources include the gown wearer's perspiration, and patient liquids including blood and life support liquids such as plasma and saline. [0003] Surgical gowns were originally made of cotton or linen and were sterilized prior to use in the operating room. These gowns, however, permitted transmission or “strike-through” of various liq...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] As such, one aspect of the present invention discloses a back-opening gown of a nonwoven material consisting of a gown body terminating in two edges at a back of the gown, a fastener may be located along at a least portion of one of the edges and a closure member that extends around the gown body is provided that terminates at each edge proximal to the fastener. Manipulation of the closure member moves at least one of the edges toward the other. This causes the fastener to engage thereby closing the back of the gown. In some embodiments a casing that extends around the gown body from the front to the back, located below the sleeves may be provided. The casing would be provided with an opening at the front for the insertion of the closure member. The closure member would be provided with an external portion protruding from the opening so that pushing the external portion into the opening causes the back of the gown to close until such time as the external portion is withdrawn.

Problems solved by technology

Furthermore, these gowns were costly and required laundering and sterilization procedures prior to reuse.

However, there are many surgical procedures that permit the use of surgical gowns that are not totally liquid impervious.

This is because traditional closure means used in disposable surgical gowns, for example, buttons, hooks, tape, and ties, may create gaps in the back of the gown.

First, the gown wearer often cannot reach the closure means on his own due to its location and second, even if he could, his hands would be placed outside the sterile zone thus necessitating further hand washing.

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