Garments for Dialysis Patients
Upper and lower garments (shirts and pants) having recloseable openings located apart from any structural seam in the garment provide improved comfort and privacy for dialysis patients receiving treatment. These garments may help reduce treatment cost and/or cross-contamination risk compared to the use of blankets or similar items.
This is an original U.S. patent application.
FIELDThis application relates to garments and other devices to be worn by mankind to adorn, cover or protect the body or person. More specifically, this application relates to garments having reversible closures located in one or more particular positions to facilitate the safe, sanitary and comfortable delivery of medical care.
BACKGROUNDMillions of individuals suffer from medical conditions that can be managed with regular dialysis treatment. In dialysis, the patient's blood flow is redirected temporarily through a machine which performs the cleaning and fluid-balancing functions that the patient's own organs (chiefly liver and kidneys) can no longer manage on their own. Patients must receive such treatments regularly (perhaps a few times a week), and so are often fitted with “ports” that ease the difficulty and trauma associated with connection to the dialysis machines. These ports may be located on the patient's arms, legs, chest and/or abdomen, as determined by their doctor and depending on the patient's physiology and needs.
In general, a patient's ports are not all accessible through openings in clothing or by simply moving a garment out of the way; often, it is necessary to partially or completely remove a garment to receive treatment. Furthermore, the environmental conditions (especially temperature) that are suitable for operation of a dialysis machine may be uncomfortable for an unclothed patient. Thus, patients often require blankets or similar items for comfort during their regular, time-consuming treatments.
Unfortunately, blankets shared among patients often become vectors for carrying infectious diseases between the patients (who are often somewhat immunocompromised in any event). Thus, some dialysis centers incur (and pass on to patients) the additional expense of providing single-use blankets or of sterilizing the blankets between uses, while other centers prohibit the use of blankets altogether (resulting in reduced patient comfort).
New articles of manufacture that improve patient comfort while reducing or eliminating the risk of cross-contamination may be of significant value in this field.
SUMMARYEmbodiments of the invention are loose-fitting, comfortable and warm garments (both shirts and pants) that are provided with at least one closeable opening located away from (or across) a structural seam of the garment. The at least one closeable opening is positioned to afford access to a dialysis port of the wearer without displacing or removing the garment.
Embodiments of the invention provide recloseable openings in garments (both upper-body garments—shirts; and lower-body garments—pants) that are sized and positioned to allow easy access to dialysis ports installed on the wearer's arms, chest, abdomen or legs. Dialysis port positions are usually not aligned with a seam or other significant structural feature of a standard garment, so it is not possible to simply insert a zipper into such a seam, or to comfortably pull back a sleeve or pant leg far enough to expose the port. Instead, embodiments comprise additional garment openings placed incompatibly with standard seams. In this disclosure, “incompatible” placing is specifically defined to mean “placement of an opening that is not aligned with a fabric-joining (structural') seam.” Openings according to an embodiment may be placed away from any seam, in the middle of an expanse of fabric; across a seam (not along it); or touching a seam, but directed into bulk area of the fabric that is joined at the seam.
Embodiments of the invention place recloseable openings at garment locations that are not coincident with fabric-joining seams (i.e., according to the inventor's specific definition, the openings are at locations incompatible with standard seams). Such placement is important to the correct function of a garment implementing an embodiment of the invention, but it increases the cost and complexity of manufacturing compared to placing zippers at locations where seams must already be made. It is appreciated that adjusting the shape of garment pieces so that structural seams do align with dialysis-port locations is infeasible because the garment is unlikely to fit comfortably—structural seams (e.g., at shoulders, underarms, crotch and pant-leg sides) are where they are as a result of long experience with well-fitting garments that can be constructed with relatively efficient use of fabric. Embodiments of the invention trade increased cost and complexity of manufacture for increased functionality.
Finally,
As mentioned previously, in preferred embodiments the recloseable openings are secured by zippers with at least two sliders, placed so that the exact size and location of the opening can be adjusted within the boundaries set by the full length of the zipper. For example, an upper garment may have a six-inch (15 cm) opening, but only a two-inch portion of the full opening may be needed to access the dialysis port. In a preferred embodiment, then, one zipper slider may be positioned slightly to one side of the port, and the other zipper slider may be positioned slightly to the other side of the port, leaving a narrow opening to access the port. Since the rest of the opening is closed, less of the patient's skin is exposed and greater comfort and privacy are obtained.
Other methods of closing the inventive openings may be used. For example, buttons, snaps or hook-and-loop fabric closures may perform acceptably. However, in most cases, considering the inconvenient locations of some port access openings and some patients' impaired dexterity, zippers are believed to be the most-favored solution.
The principles of the present invention have been described largely by reference to specific examples and in terms of particular embodiments. However, those of skill in the art will recognize that comfortable, hygienic dialysis clothing can also be constructed in other forms without departing from the principles set forth above. Such variations and alternate implementations are understood to be captured according to the following claims.
Claims
1. An upper garment for a dialysis patient formed as a long-sleeved shirt of a soft, insulating fabric, characterized in comprising:
- at least two recloseable openings located incompatibly with all structural seams of the upper garment,
- a first of said two recloseable openings located on a right upper front quadrant of the upper garment and oriented vertically, and
- a second of said two recloseable openings located on a vertical centerline of a front of the upper garment and extending down from no higher than a mid-chest position of the vertical centerline to short of a hem of the upper garment.
2. (canceled)
3. The upper garment of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one two recloseable openings comprises a zipper.
4. The upper garment of claim 3 wherein each zipper of the at least two recloseable openings comprises two zipper sliders oriented so that a position and a length of and opening of the corresponding recloseable opening can be adjusted.
5. The upper garment of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one recloseable openings comprises a plurality of buttons.
6. The upper garment of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one recloseable openings comprises a plurality of snaps.
7. The upper garment of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one recloseable openings comprises a hook-and-loop fabric closure.
8. The upper garment of claim 1 wherein all of the at least two recloseable openings extend through all fabric layers of the upper garment so as to allow access from outside the upper garment to a surface of a patient's skin when the patient wears the upper garment.
9. A lower garment for a dialysis patient formed as long-legged pants of a soft, insulating fabric, characterized by comprising:
- at least one recloseable opening located incompatibly with all structural seams of the lower garment,
- said at least one recloseable opening closed by a zipper with two sliders oriented so that one sub-portion of the recloseable opening may be opened, while a remainder of the recloseable opening is closed,
- said at least one recloseable opening located along a front of a left leg of the lower garment and extending from no higher than about a mid-thigh location through to no lower than about a mid-shin location.
10-12. (canceled)
13. The lower garment of claim 9 wherein the at least one recloseable opening is exactly one recloseable opening.
14. The lower garment of claim 9 wherein all of the at least one recloseable openings extend through all fabric layers of the garment so as to allow access from outside the garment to a surface of a patient's skin when the patient wears the garment.
15. A dialysis costume for a patient, comprising:
- an upper garment having two full-length sleeves attached to a torso portion at shoulders thereof, said torso portion having an open lower end and a collared neck opening at an opposite, upper end,
- said upper garment constructed with at least one material seam connecting a sleeve to the torso, closing a side of the torso, closing a shoulder of the torso, or closing a length of a sleeve; and
- at least a first reversibly-closeable opening through all fabric layers of the upper garment, said at least a first reversibly-closeable opening located incompatibly with all of the at least one material seams of the upper garment; and
- a lower garment having two full-length, separated pant-legs attached to a waistband, said lower garment constructed with at least one material seam connecting a left side of the garment to a right side of the garment or closing one of the left pant leg or the right pant leg; and
- at least a second reversibly-closeable opening through all fabric layers of the lower garment, said at least a second reversibly-closeable opening located incompatibly with all of the at least one material seams of the lower garment, said second reversibly-closeable opening extending from no higher than about a mid-thigh position of the lower garment to no lower than about a mid-shin position of the lower garment.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 7, 2014
Publication Date: Apr 7, 2016
Inventor: Viola L. PRUITT (Tualatin, OR)
Application Number: 14/508,256