Emergency Stretcher

A major concern in a pediatric hospital is the difficulty which is experienced in

attempting to evacuate babies under emergency conditions such as in the event of a fire. At the present time, the conventional evacuation drill calls for the attending staff to bundle the babies individually and to pick up and physically carry a number of babies from the evacuation site to safety. This practice is very hazardous to the babies which are being transported and to the attendent. Babies and particularly premature babies tend to lose their body heat rapidly when removed from a temperature controlled environment. In addition, the wrapping or bundling which is carried out in an emergency situation is likely to greatly slow the rate at which evacuation can be carried out and this in itself can reduce the likelihood of successful evacuation. The number of babies that can be evacuated by any one attendant is also very limited.

Emergency Stretchers are frequently designed in order to accommodate a single patient in a supine position. A number of stretchers have been designed which have flaps which can be folded over a patient to protect the patient. One such device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,908, Burns et al, dated Nov. 4, 1978. Devices of this type have been available for some considerable time, however, they are designed to be fitted around the patient after the patient has been positioned on the stretcher support surface in a supine position. They do not provide a pocket into which more than one patient can be inserted rapidly to be accommodated therein for transportation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a Emergency Stretcher for babies which is capable of accommodating a plurality of babies for transportation therewith during a rescue operation.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stretcher for evacuating a plurality of babies wherein a plurality of pockets are formed on the stretcher and each pocket is proportioned to accommodate at least one baby.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a stretcher for babies which has a plurality of pockets formed thereon and each pocket is provided with a size-adjusting device which permits the size of the pocket to be adjusted to closely conform to the size of the occupant or occupants.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided in a stretcher of the type having a patient support member which has a longitudinally elongated support face, the improvement of a plurality of pockets formed on the patient support face at spaced intervals along the length thereof, each pocket being proportioned to accommodate at least one baby whereby a plurality of babies can be accommodated in the pockets of the stretcher for mass evacuation purposes.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a Emergency Stretcher for babies comprising a perimeter frame having oppositely disposed side rails extending longitudinally thereof and first and second end rails extending transversely between adjacent ends of the side rails, a patient support membrane mounted on said perimeter frame and extending between the side rails and between the end rails, said membrane having an upper face, a plurality of pocket forming membranes each of which is attached to the patient support membrane and cooperates therewith to form a pocket which is proportioned to accommodate at least one baby.

by: ericfu

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