Anti-decubing mattress pad
First Claim
1. A pad primarily intended for use as a hospital mattress to reduce the development of decubitus ulcers in patients using the pad, said pad including:
- a first layer having a plurality of discrete spring elements, said spring elements being upstanding columns having free standing, upper end portions and being made of resilient foam wherein adjacent pairs of said spring elements have vertically extending gaps therebetween spacing said adjacent pairs apart and said spacing varies between respective pairs of said spring elements to vary the spring characteristics of said upstanding foam columns, each of said upstanding foam columns having a base and a free standing, upper end portion with an upper surface and sides extending between the base and upper surface of each foam column, said pad further including means to attach together side walls of adjacent columns at a locations along said side walls between the based and upper surfaces of the adjacent foam columns to vary the spring characteristics of said attached, adjacent foam columns.
19 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A mattress pad primarily intended for use with a standard hospital bed frame to reduce the development of decubitus ulcers or bed sores in patients using the pad. The pad is multi-layered and includes a cover or casing containing interior strata of a plastic film layer atop a fluid bladder layer supported on an underlying layer of foam. The pad is specially designed to reduce lateral and normal pressures and forces on the patient which can lead to the development of such ulcers. The reduction of the lateral shearing forces is accomplished in a number of ways including by oversizing the plastic film layer and fluid bladder layer on the underlying layer of foam and by positioning microbeads between the plastic film layer and fluid bladder layer to dramatically reduce the frictional drag or lateral shearing forces between the layers. Similarly, the normal pressures and forces are reduced and controlled in a number of manners including oversizing, modifying the configuration, filling, and size of the discrete fluid pouches of the fluid bladder layer, and varying the spring characteristics of the support columns in the underlying foam layer by hollowing them out to differing degrees, adjusting their spacing, and selectively tying adjacent columns together.
50 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A pad primarily intended for use as a hospital mattress to reduce the development of decubitus ulcers in patients using the pad, said pad including:
a first layer having a plurality of discrete spring elements, said spring elements being upstanding columns having free standing, upper end portions and being made of resilient foam wherein adjacent pairs of said spring elements have vertically extending gaps therebetween spacing said adjacent pairs apart and said spacing varies between respective pairs of said spring elements to vary the spring characteristics of said upstanding foam columns, each of said upstanding foam columns having a base and a free standing, upper end portion with an upper surface and sides extending between the base and upper surface of each foam column, said pad further including means to attach together side walls of adjacent columns at a locations along said side walls between the based and upper surfaces of the adjacent foam columns to vary the spring characteristics of said attached, adjacent foam columns. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A pad primarily intended for use as a hospital mattress to reduce the development of decubitus ulcers in patients using the pad, said pad including:
a first layer having a plurality of discrete spring elements, each spring element being resilient and having a free standing, upper end portion with adjacent free standing, upper end portions of adjacent spring elements being separated with a vertically extending gap therebetween, said gap extending downwardly for a first distance and said pad further including means to attach said adjacent spring elements to each other across said gap at a location down the gap less than said first distance. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
Specification