Medical Garment and Method

Abstract

A medical garment is provided for use with children patients during and following intravenous medical therapies and method for using the same. The garment includes fabric fitted for the upper torso of a patient with an easily detachable flap exposing an access opening located over the chest area to allow care providers with easy access to medical ports implanted in the patient's chest where most such ports are located for pediatric patients. An storage pocket is positioned inside and adjacent to the opening for easy, safe and discreet storage of tubing and small medical devices. The exterior surfaces of the flap and / or interior surfaces of the pocket may include ornamentation and / or design elements appropriate for children's clothing. The garment is designed to look like a regular piece of children's clothing which is comfortable for children to wear and which helps restore a feeling of normalcy to a child patient.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 813,837 filed 2013 Apr. 19.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to medical garments, and more particularly to medical garments designed to meet the needs of children receiving medical therapies via implanted medical devices.BACKGROUND[0003]Current methods for providing medical treatment to children having cancer (and other serious medical conditions) regularly involve placement of intravenous access ports (and / or tubes) at the central chest area of the child patient. Chemotherapy, for example, is commonly administered through a central line, implantable port or PICC line inserted into the chest area below the collar bone. These ports (or tubes) may stay in place for some months or, in some cases, years and must be accessed regularly for administration of therapy and for cleaning. They can be used for a variety of medical purposes such as tak...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a garment designed to look like a normal piece of children's clothing. It has an opening at the chest area that allows easy access to implanted ports, tubing, and small medical apparatus by care providers. The garment also has an inconspicuous interior storage pocket for storage of these tubes and small medical apparatus. The garment covers the opening with a detachable flap that has design and ornamentation consistent with normal everyday children's clothing. This invention solves the problem of providing appropriate access to the patient's chest area, inconspicuous storage for ports, and providing a child patient with a sense of normalcy.

Problems solved by technology

While they are generally beneficial in allowing access to the body without having to insert a needle into the patient each time, they entail some difficulty and discomfort to the caregiver and patient.

As treatment can be time consuming, physically uncomfortable and emotionally difficult, especially for children, special attention needs to be paid to make sure the child is as comfortable as possible without impeding access and / or disturbing the ports or the tubing attached thereto.

Normal children's clothing is generally unsuitable for treatment because it doesn't provide adequate access to the chest area, would disturb the ports, or would otherwise need to be removed during therapy and put back on following therapy.

Unfortunately, standard prior art medical garments (such as gowns) are woefully inadequate for children patients receiving intravenous treatments (such as chemotherapy) because they do not meet the physical or psychological needs of the child during and post treatment.

Being exposed to a chilly hospital environment is discomforting to a sick child.

The prior art garments fail to adequately accommodate loose tubing and other connective apparatus which is often left dangling from the ports or otherwise tied to the child thus severely limiting the child's ability to reposition or move without affecting the port connections.

This can be uncomfortable and distressing to the child.

And, it could be life threatening if a tube is dislodged.

Importantly, prior art medical garments do nothing to comfort the child's anxiety or help the child feel a sense of normalcy during or post treatment.

Post treatment, children having intravenous ports are limited as to what they wear because normal clothing is too tight and disturbs the ports and / or fails to adequately conceal them.

Child patients often feel stigmatized by their condition and try to hide their condition for fear they may be judged or excluded by others.

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