Lowerable Hospital Chair Side Rails for Patient Transfer Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hospital chairs with side rails for patient safety impede nursing staff during patient transfer due to their fixed position, which complicates lifting and transferring patients from operating tables to hospital chairs or other beds.
Innovation Solution
The side rails are designed to be lowerable from their normal use position into a non-use position, allowing horizontal movement in the longitudinal direction of the chair, enabling them to be out of the way during patient placement or transfer, and can be raised back to secure the patient against falling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If side rails are provided in fixed position to secure patient against falling, then patient safety is improved, but nursing staff work is impeded during patient transfer
Solution Approach 1:
The side rails are designed to be movable between a raised position (for patient safety) and a lowered position (for nursing staff access). The dynamic adjustment mechanism allows the side rails to change position based on operational needs, resolving the contradiction between safety and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The height parameter of the side rails is made variable rather than fixed. By changing the vertical position parameter of the side rails, the system achieves both patient security when raised and nursing staff accessibility when lowered.
2Ease of operation
If side rails are lowered completely out of the way, then nursing staff can easily transfer patients, but patient support during standing is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The side rails provide dynamic support during the transfer process by being adjustable. They can be positioned to support the patient during transfer operations while still allowing nursing staff access, and then raised to provide full support during standing.
3Reliability
If side rails remain in use position during patient transfer, then patient security is maintained, but patient access to chair is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The side rails are dynamically positioned - lowered during patient access/transfer operations to eliminate obstruction, and raised during patient seating/rest to provide security. This temporal separation of functions resolves the contradiction between security and accessibility.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
AI summary
Disabled chair with side rails arranged next to the seat, characterized in that the side rails can be lowered from a position of use, in which the essentially horizontal upper edges or armrests arranged there assume a position above the seat, into a non-use position, in which the aforementioned upper edges or armrests have a position in the plane of the seat.