Characteristic of cardiothoracic surgery is the post-operative patient who is sent to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) intubated due to respiratory requirements. Approximately half of these patients are extubated within their first twenty-four post-operative hours. In most cases these patients are extubated within the first three days. There are some, however, who remain intubated for a significant length of time. When a surgeon identifies a patient who will require intubation longer than seven days, the surgeon will usually decide to perform a tracheotomy on that patient. The breathing support tube enters the trachea rather than entering the mouth for the trached patient. Communication for a intubated or trached patient is minimal due to the inability to speak resulting in the patient, hospital staff and loved ones resorting to the reading of lips, nodding of heads and squeezing of hands to communicate.
Without effective communication, the intubated or trached patient may not receive the standard of care he or she would otherwise receive had he or she been able to effectively communicate. The lack of communication also creates unnecessary levels of anxiety which the patient must endure. Nurses and hospital staff ask many questions from the patient pertaining to their prognosis and progress which may never get fully or even adequately answered. A doctor or nurse is not able to treat a symptom which they know little or nothing about. In addition, other problems arise due to the insufficient communication from the patient. Localized areas of pain are often mis-diagnosed, resulting in over-medication generally or the medication of an area which is not the source of pain. Proper and essential treatment given in an adequate and timely manner will help resolve or prevent many post-operative complications and decrease the patient""s length of stay in the hospital. This begins with providing the patient a clear and precise means of communication.
Accordingly, there has been a need for an ICU communication device which in the immediate post-operative period can provide assistance to an intubated or trached patient. What is also needed is a device which provides the communicating elements necessary over the patient""s post-operative stay in the hospital with not only with medical care providers but also with visiting family and loved ones. Further, a communication device is needed which accomplishes the desired function while being easy to manufacture and use while remaining cost effective. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.
The present invention resides in a device which facilitates communication between a voice-disabled patient and his or her care provider and others. The device comprises, generally, a housing having at least one display surface, indicia displayable on the display surface, and a marker associated with the housing. The indicia may be utilized by the patient to indicate the status and needs of the patient. The marker is usable by the patient to communicate to a third party the patient""s status and needs utilizing the indicia.
In one form of the invention, the device for communicating with a voice-disabled patient comprises a clipboard having at least one eraser-board surface, and an erasable marker attachable to the clipboard, and indicia imprinted onto the eraser-board surface. More particularly, the clipboard includes two eraser-board surfaces, and an eraser is connectable to the clipboard.
In another form of the invention, an electronic device for communicating with a voice-disabled patient comprises a housing, a computer within the housing, a touch pad visual screen disposed on the housing and in electronic communication with the computer, and computerized screen layouts generated by the computer having touch activated icons indicating the patient""s status and needs. The housing includes handles, and a speaker is disposed within the housing for audibly transmitting a computerized voice corresponding to the icons displayed on the visual screen.
In both embodiments the indicia includes descriptive words and phrases, and graphical representations of a human body. The indicia may further include a grid containing alphabetical letters, numbers and universal symbols, and a pain scale. Moreover, the words and phrases may include the patient""s physical and emotional status, and the graphical representations of the human body may have correlating descriptive words and phrases indicating the physical status of specific parts of the body.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.