METHOD OF ATTACHING TIES TO A MEDICAL GOWN AND A MEDICAL GOWN HAVING TIES SECURED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE METHOD

Abstract

A method of securing ties to a medical gown including providing a medical gown and associated ties made from a material that is compatible with ultrasonic welding, folding the ties prior to welding to provide more than one layer of tie material and welding the ties by ultrasonic welding through the more than one layer of tie material.

Description

FIELD

There is described a method of securing ties to a medical gown and a medical gown having ties secured in accordance with the method.

BACKGROUND

Ties are used to secure medical gowns to patients and medical personnel. The most common manner of attaching the ties to the medical gowns is through ultrasonic welding. The American Association for Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has standards regarding fluid resistance of medical gowns. The site of the ultrasonic welds for the ties presently has an unacceptable level of fluid resistance failure.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect, there is provided a method of securing ties to a medical gown. A first step involves providing a medical gown and associated ties made from a material that is compatible with ultrasonic welding. A second step involves folding the ties prior to welding to provide more than one layer of tie material. A third step involves welding the ties by ultrasonic welding through the more than one layer of tie material of the folded ties.

Investigation as to the cause of fluid leakage at the site of ultrasonic welds for the ties concluded that the process of ultrasonic welding frequently perforated the material. Other technologies were considered for attaching the ties, such as two sided tape. However, the use of two sided tape was found to be relatively expensive and relatively slow. Attention was then focused upon how to make ultrasonic welding viable. It was determined that by folding the ties to provide more than one layer of tie material, the perforations were eliminated. It is believed that the additional material prevents the fabric of the gown from being perforated. It is preferred that the ties being folded lengthwise and secured by multiple ultrasonic welds spaced axially along the ties, or a single elongate weld.

According to another aspect there is provided a medical gown which includes a gown body and associated ties made from a material that is compatible with ultrasonic welding. The ties are folded to provide more than one layer of tie material and then ultrasonically welded to the gown body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to be in any way limiting, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a medical gown having ultrasonically welded secured ties.

FIG. 2 is a detailed front elevation view of the ultrasonic welding site of the medical gown of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view, in section, of the ultrasonic welding site illustrated in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method of securing ties to a medical gown will now be described with reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 1, the present method will be described in relation to a medical gown, generally identified by reference numeral 10, which is fabricated in accordance with the teachings of the method a gown body 12 and associated ties 14 are made from a material that is compatible with ultrasonic welding. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, ties 14 are folded at least once prior to welding. It is preferred that ties 14 be folded lengthwise, as illustrated. Ties 14 are then welded to gown body 12 by a series of axially spaced ultra sonic welds 18 through the more than one layer of tie material at welding site 16.

The purpose of folding is to provide additional layers of tie material to protect gown body 12 from damage during the welding process. Once these teachings are understood, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that there are alternative ways to fold ties 14 to achieve the desired objective. For example, ties 14 could have been folded using either a transverse fold or a diagonal fold. A longitudinal fold is preferred, as it more than one transverse fold or diagonal fold would be required in order to position ties 14 on opposed sides of gown body 12 in a desired orientation. The longitudinal fold is also better able to accommodate multiple ultrasonic welds 18 at welding site 16.

Referring to FIG. 1, resulting medical gown 10 includes gown body 12 and associated ties 14, which are made of a fluid impervious material compatible with ultrasonic welding. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, ties 14 are folded lengthwise at welding site 16 to provide more than one layer of tie material and protect gown body 12 from damage during the welding process. Multiple ultrasonic welds 18 are spaced axially along ties 14 at welding site 16, to securely fasten ties 14 to gown body 12.

While multiple, round welds 18 are shown in the depicted embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the number of welds 18 and their size or shape will depend on the preferences of the manufacturer or user in order to attach ties 14 sufficiently to gown body 12. For example, the same result as multiple, discrete welds may be achieved by using a single, rectangular weld.

In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.

The following claims are to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, and what can be obviously substituted. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the described embodiments can be configured without departing from the scope of the claims. The illustrated embodiments have been set forth only as examples and should not be taken as limiting the invention. It is to be understood that, within the scope of the following claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically illustrated and described.

Claims

1. A method of securing ties to a medical gown, comprising:

providing a medical gown and associated ties made from a material that is compatible with ultrasonic welding;

folding the ties prior to welding to provide more than one layer of tie material;

welding the ties by ultrasonic welding through the more than one layer of tie material.

2. The method of claim 1, the ties being folded lengthwise and secured by multiple ultrasonic welds spaced axially along the ties.

3. A medical gown, comprising:

a gown body and associated ties made from a material that is compatible with ultrasonic welding, the ties being folded to provide more than one layer of tie material and then ultrasonically welded to the gown body.

4. The method of claim 3, the ties being folded lengthwise and secured by multiple ultrasonic welds spaced axially along the ties.