Expandable Bariatric Bed Sheet Receiver for Doorway Clearance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Bariatric beds with expanded widths pose challenges for patient repositioning, particularly in navigating through standard-sized doorways, as existing solutions either require widening the sheet receiver beyond the doorway width or lack practicality in moving the bed safely and efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A patient repositioning system that includes a mattress with side bolsters and an expandable sheet receiver with a drive mechanism, allowing the system to accommodate bariatric beds up to 48 inches wide while maintaining the ability to pass through standard 42-inch doorways, utilizing expandable and rotatable components to adjust width and facilitate safe patient repositioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If the sheet receiver is widened to accommodate bariatric beds (48 inches), then the bed can support wider patients, but the bed cannot pass through standard doorways (42 inches)
Solution Approach 1:
The bed is divided into a movable mattress section and a stationary frame section. The mattress can be detached and moved independently through doorways, while the frame remains stationary. This segmentation allows the bed to accommodate wide patients (48 inches) when assembled but pass through standard doorways when disassembled.
Solution Approach 2:
The bed incorporates adjustable components including a movable head section that can be detached, and a mattress that can be removed. These dynamic elements allow the bed configuration to change between a wide assembled state for patient support and a compact disassembled state for mobility through doorways.
2Reliability
If a lifting device is used to move patients, then patient repositioning is safer, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bed incorporates a self-service repositioning mechanism where the mattress can be easily detached and reattached by caregivers without complex mechanisms. The movable head section and adjustable components allow the bed to assist in patient repositioning through simple manual operations rather than requiring complex automated lifting devices.
3Device complexity
If manual pulling is used to reposition patients, then no additional devices are needed, but caregiver injury risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The movable mattress section acts as an intermediary between the caregiver and the patient. Caregivers can manipulate the mattress section to reposition patients without directly pulling on the patient's body, thereby reducing injury risk while maintaining operational simplicity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables safe and efficient repositioning of patients on bariatric beds, ensuring the system can be easily moved through standard doorways while accommodating the wider bed dimensions, reducing the risk of injury to caregivers and maintaining patient dignity.
Implementation Method 1
a drive mechanism and a housing holding the drive mechanism. The drive mechanism is operatively coupled to the sheet and adapted to pull the sheet toward the head end
Data Source
AI summary
A patient repositioning system (10) for a bariatric bed (12) includes a mattress (14) having a head end (54), a foot end (52), and an upper surface (46), a sheet (16) residing on the upper surface (46), a drive mechanism (22) operatively coupled to the sheet (16) and adapted to pull the sheet (16) toward the head end (54), and a housing (20) which holds the drive mechanism (22). The mattress (14) further includes a body portion (114) and at least one operatively coupled attached side bolster (112a) located along one longitudinal side (62a) of the body portion (114), thereby to widen the upper surface (46) of the mattress (14) so as to accommodate standard bariatric dimensions. Alternatively, instead of a side bolster (112a), the invention contemplates the use of transition pieces (136a, 136b) near the head end (54), a rotatable housing (20), or a telescopically expandable/contractable housing (20), thereby to expand to accommodate bariatric dimensions and contract to reduced dimensions so as to fit through a standard size doorway.