Protective patient procedure chair/table toe protective cover with improved hygienic and adaptable design for medical treatment furnishings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing protective covers for medical treatment furnishings are not adequately disinfectable and are prone to damage from footwear, as they often have non-removable components with nooks and crannies that harbor contaminants, and are not universally adaptable, leading to issues with infection control and furniture protection.
Innovation Solution
A protective cover made of flexible medical-grade fabric with antimicrobial properties, featuring a non-porous PVC cord for secure attachment to medical furnishings, allowing for easy disinfection and universal adaptability, with grommets and a design that enables secure lacing and easy removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If protective covers use non-removable components with nooks and crannies (such as hook and pile fasteners, snaps, elastics, or woven fabric straps) to secure to furniture, then the cover can be firmly attached, but these components create reservoirs for hair, dust, debris and microbial contamination that cannot be adequately disinfected
Solution Approach 1:
The protective cover is divided into two separate parts: a removable cover portion and a furniture-mounted base portion. This segmentation allows the cover to be completely removed for disinfection while leaving only the smooth, easy-to-clean base on the furniture, eliminating the contamination problem in fastening mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The contaminable fastening components (hooks, loops, straps, snaps) are extracted from the cover and placed on the furniture base instead. This extraction removes the sources of contamination from the removable cover, allowing it to be fully disinfected between patients.
2Reliability
If protective covers are made make/model specific with specifically cut vinyl and specifically positioned fasteners to fit particular furniture, then the cover can be securely adapted to the furniture, but the cover cannot be universally used across different furniture types and requires complex customization
Solution Approach 1:
The base portion mounted on the furniture contains universal attachment features (such as a grid of holes or a flexible mounting surface) that can accommodate various cover sizes and styles. This universal design allows the same base to securely hold different makes and models of protective covers, eliminating the need for custom-made covers for each furniture type.
3Strength
If protective covers use adhesive-backed Velcro or non-removable fastening components attached to the furniture frame, then the cover can be firmly secured, but these components are not readily accessible for cleaning and disinfecting during the lifetime of the furniture
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the cover from the base, the system allows complete removal of the cover portion for cleaning. The base remains on the furniture with simple, accessible cleaning surfaces, solving the problem of inaccessible fastening components.
4Adaptability or versatility
If protective covers use fabric straps, nylon straps, or elastic bands for adaptation, then the cover can be flexibly secured to furniture, but these materials are not moisture resistant and have surface textures that inherently have nooks and crannies for hair, dust, debris and microbes
Solution Approach 1:
The fabric straps, elastics, and textured fastening materials are extracted from the removable cover and placed on the furniture base. This allows the cover to be made entirely of smooth, moisture-resistant, easily disinfectable materials while the furniture base provides the flexible securing function with materials that may be harder to clean but remain fixed and less critical for patient contact.
Data Source
AI summary
A protective cover improves the hygiene of patient procedure chair/table, such as a toe cover. There is a need to for an improvement on the ability to effectively disinfect all components of a universally adaptable protective cover applied to the toe area of healthcare furnishing/patient procedure chair. The embodiments of the present protective cover is universally adaptable to various shapes and sizes found in patient procedure chairs. Textiles selected for use include vinyl, medical grade upholstery vinyl, or other textiles that may be used in healthcare settings so that all components can be disinfected with intermediate grade disinfectants. The design also allows for decoratively enhancing the patient environment. Dental patient chair will be used to demonstrate images. The design can be adapted to various patient chairs and tables.