Although the present invention is potentially useful in a variety of environments, it was developed primarily for use in a medical facility. In this environment, patients many times require intravenous fluids, monitors, infusion pumps or the like for their medical treatment, wherein such equipment is supported on an IV pole. When the use of an IV pole is required, a problem existed in easily moving patients from one treatment area to another. Commonly, personnel have been utilized to guide an IV pole along with the gurney or wheelchair in which the patient is transported. Such a procedure frequently requires three people, two to handle the gurney and one to control the IV pole.
As an example, an intravenous fluid set-up, which requires the use of an IV pole, normally includes a fluid bottle and the delivery line which delivers the fluids and medication from the fluid bottle to a needle in the vein of the patient. The fluid bottle is suspended from an upright IV pole which may be permanently attached to the patient's bed, or which more frequently comprises a separate unit being a vertical pole mounted on rollers. As the detached, mobile IV pole allows the patient to be moved or transported when required, without disturbing the intravenous set up, it is by far the most commonly used device. In the movement of a patient using an IV set-up or other equipment supported on an IV pole, it is highly important that the IV set up be positioned closely adjacent the patient and fully controlled at all times to ensure patient safety and comfort. When moving or transporting a patient, loss of control of the IV set up is a potentially dangerous situation for a number of rather obvious reasons. It is therefore desirable and necessary for the IV pole to be moved simultaneously with the patient without any relative movement between the patient and IV pole. It should be evident that if no adequate and safe means for attaching an IV pole to a gurney or wheelchair is provided, extra personnel may be required for transporting a patient to ensure and the IV set-up remains intact and the patient remains safe and comfortable.
Various arrangements for coupling an IV pole to a wheelchair are known in the prior art, such as found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,157 which shows a female mounting sleeve attached to a wheelchair and a male extension attached to the IV pole, wherein the two parts are fitted together and secured by a threaded screw. This arrangement has been generally found to require significant time and effort to effect coupling of the wheelchair and IV pole and does not provide the desired flexibility to use the device with different size IV poles in the marketplace. Similar devices which allow an IV pole to be coupled to a wheelchair are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,431,206 and 4,190,224, both of which utilize a threaded screw clamp arrangement which have been found to be cumbersome and inefficient, thereby detracting from their effective use for the desired purpose.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,131, there is provided a utility clamp for securing an IV pole to a wheelchair, which comprises a mounting plate secured to the wheelchair. The mounting plate extends outwardly from the wheelchair so as to engage an IV pole. A leg guide is provided on the mounting plate which provides a means to contain the wheeled leg of the IV pole, and the plate also includes a receiving pocket and variable cam for securing the IV pole thereto. The variable cam is rotatable from an open to a closed position, and is stated to provide a means by which the IV pole may be quickly secured thereto so as to couple the IV pole to the wheelchair. Although this prior patent discloses a construction for more effectively securing an IV pole to a wheelchair, it is somewhat obtrusive, especially when an IV pole is not being utilized, and also is not adaptable for various situations encountered when transporting a patient on a wheelchair or other transporting vehicles such as gurneys or the like.