Self-Donning Surgical Gown with Overlapping Back Panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional surgical gowns require two assistants to don, limiting the mobility of surgeons and increasing the risk of contamination due to a potential gap in the back portion, which also reduces productivity and efficiency in the operating room.
Innovation Solution
A surgical gown design that allows self-donning or requires only a scrub nurse, featuring a quick-release transfer card and hook-and-loop fasteners to secure the gown without the need for tying strings, ensuring 360-degree sterility and reducing the number of steps in the donning process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional surgical gown design is used, then the gown provides barrier protection, but it requires two assistants to don and creates a gap in the back portion
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical gown is designed to be self-donning with a wraparound back portion that automatically overlaps and secures to itself, eliminating the need for assistants to tie strings or fasten the back. The gown's own structure provides the fastening mechanism through the overlapping panels and integrated fasteners.
Solution Approach 2:
The back portion of the gown is segmented into two separate panels (first back panel and second back panel) that wrap around and overlap each other. This segmentation allows each panel to be independently positioned and secured, ensuring complete coverage without gaps while enabling self-donning.
2Reliability
If a conventional surgical gown design is used, then the gown provides barrier protection, but it creates a gap in the back portion that reduces sterility
Solution Approach 1:
The back portion is divided into overlapping panels that wrap around the wearer's torso. The first back panel extends from the front torso portion across the back, and the second back panel overlaps it, creating multiple layers of coverage that eliminate gaps and ensure complete sterility around the entire back area.
Solution Approach 2:
The overlapping back panels are merged through fastening mechanisms (such as hook-and-loop fasteners or ties) that secure the panels together at the back. This merging creates a continuous, gapless barrier that maintains sterility while allowing the gown to be donned without assistance.
3Reliability
If a conventional surgical gown design is used, then the gown provides barrier protection, but it requires multiple procedural steps to don
Solution Approach 1:
The complex multi-step procedure involving two assistants is extracted and replaced by a simplified self-donning design. The gown eliminates the need for assistants to tie strings or fasten the back, reducing the donning process to simple wrapping and self-fastening actions that can be completed quickly by the surgeon alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The back panels are pre-configured in a wraparound design with integrated fasteners positioned to automatically align when the gown is wrapped around the body. This preliminary arrangement of components ensures that the fastening action is intuitive and requires minimal steps, significantly reducing gowning time.
4Reliability
If a conventional surgical gown design is used, then the gown provides barrier protection, but it limits surgeon mobility
Solution Approach 1:
The gown uses flexible fastening mechanisms such as hook-and-loop fasteners that allow dynamic adjustment and movement. The wraparound back design with overlapping panels provides flexibility while maintaining coverage, enabling the surgeon to move freely without compromising the barrier protection or requiring re-fastening during the procedure.
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
Enhances surgeon mobility, maintains sterility, reduces the risk of contamination, and decreases the time required for gowning, thereby increasing productivity and reducing operating costs.
Implementation Method 1
a second fastener attached to the second end of the flap, the second fastener being adapted to engage the first fastener for fastening the second end of the flap to the front torso portion
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4~4A
AI summary
Surgical! gown and method of manufacturing the surgical gown, in a first embodiment, the surgical gown requires only one operating room person to assist a surgeon in donning the gown. A shoulder Hap extends from a rear torso portion, over a shoulder portion and to a front torso portion of the gown. With assistance of only one other person, the surgeon rotates to enclose himself within the surgical gown, secure the flap to the front of the gown and tie waist tie strings, A second embodiment gown is self-donning. The second embodiment comprises a pole to which the flap and one waist tie string are removably attached. The surgeon rotates to enclose himself within the gown, removes the flap and waist tie string from the pole, attaches the flap to the gown and ties the waist tie strings to complete the gowning procedure.