Although the present invention is potentially useful in a variety of environments, it was developed primarily for use in a medical facility. In moving patients from one treatment area to another, the practice prior to development of the present invention was to use personnel to guide an IV-pole along with the gurney or wheelchair. Such a procedure frequently required three people: two to handle the gurney and one to control the IV. For background, an IV (intravenous fluid) set-up includes the fluid bottle and the delivery line which delivers fluids/medications from the bottle to a needle in the patient's vein. The bottle is suspended from an upright IV-pole which may be permanently attached to the patient bed, or which is more frequently a separate unit comprised of a vertical pole mounted on rollers. The detached, mobile unit is the one most frequently used when moving patients. Therefore, because there has been no adequate and safe means for attaching IVs to gurneys and wheelchairs, extra personnel has been required for accomplishing transport. At the time of filing, other attempts at solving the problem were unknown to applicant. The present invention is thus a truly unique device for attaching an IV-pole to a gurney or wheelchair for towing purposes.
One reason that other known towing devices are unsuitable is because they are generally designed for use with automobiles, or in other environments where the relative motion between the towing vehicle and the object being towed is not as critical. In movement of patients it is highly important that the IV set-up be fully controlled at all times. Loss of control of an IV set-up is a potentially dangerous situation for a number of rather obvious reasons. Known towing devices allow considerable motion of the towed vehicle or object. With IV set-ups, there should be no movement of the IV set-up relative to the gurney or wheelchair. It is important that the two vehicles be moved substantially as one unit. However, it is also important that the connecting or towing device be easily attached to or detached from the gurney and the IV-pole. The attachment/detachment must be easily made by various levels of personnel and should be accomplished in seconds, with as few moving parts as possible. It is also recognized that the present invention is applicable in other environments where there are relatively small wheeled carts, tables, or other such devices which occasionally need to be moved in tandem.
The present inventor has attempted to overcome the disadvantages in moving patients with IVs and to provide a device that would meet the above objectives in medical or other environments. The present invention is a device that can be used for connecting or coupling two objects together for moving them in tandem. The device is comprised substantively of an elongated body portion having a hooking or connecting member on each end thereof. A spring-biased locking means is associated with each hooking member to lock the hook securely to a portion of the frame of the gurney and of the IV-pole respectively.
The device is of relatively small size, is simple in construction and thus economical to produce and maintain. There are a minimum of moving, interrelated parts, keeping the likelihood of failure, and cost of maintenance, to a minimum.