ASSOCIATION OF SUPPORT SURFACES AND BEDS

• US 20090063183A1
• Filed: 08/29/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Huster, Keith A., Ferguson, David, Zhao, Simeon, Bhatia, Daleep, Riley, Carl William, Vanderpohl, Irvin John III, Glidewell, Patricia A., McNeely, Craig A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,868,740 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 12/00 Accommodation for nursing, e.g. in hospitals, not covered by groups A61G1/00 - A61G11/00, e.g. trolleys for transport of medicaments or food service or tea-tables, trolleys or wagons A47B31/00; Prescription lists
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 7/018 Control or drive mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/22 Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

Systems, methods, beds, supports surfaces and machine readable medium for associating beds and support surface of a healthcare facility are disclosed. A surface association system for a healthcare facility may comprise a plurality of beds. The system may further comprise a computing device and a plurality of support surfaces to be placed upon beds of the plurality of beds. The computing device may associate a support surface of the plurality of support surfaces with a bed of the plurality of beds. The computing device may make the association based upon status data received from the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces. The support surface and/or bed to be associated may initiate a surface association request. The computing device, in response to the surface association request, may request performance of one or more actions on the bed and/or support surface to be associated to identify the bed and/or support surface from the beds and support surfaces of the healthcare facility.

Claims

1. A surface association system for a healthcare facility, comprising

a plurality of beds,

a plurality of support surfaces to be placed upon beds of the plurality of beds, and

a computing device to associate a support surface of the plurality of support surfaces with a bed of the plurality of beds based upon data received from one of the support surface and the bed.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein

the bed to be associated initiates a surface association request,

the computing device, in response to the surface association request initiated by the bed, requests performance of one or more actions on the support surface to be associated with the bed in order to identify the support surface from the plurality of support surfaces, and

the support surface to be associated provides the computing device with data indicative of the one or more actions in response to the one or more actions being performed.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of location transmitters, wherein

each location transmitter transmits a location identifier signal comprising a location identifier indicative of a location of the respective location transmitter,

each of the plurality of beds includes a location receiver to receive the location identifier, and

the computing device associates the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces with the bed of the plurality of beds based upon the location identifier of the bed.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of location transmitters, wherein

each location transmitter transmits a location identifier signal comprising a location identifier indicative of a location of the respective location transmitter,

each of the plurality of surfaces includes a location receiver to receive the location identifier, and

the computing device associates the bed of the plurality of beds with the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces based upon the location identifier of the support surface.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of location transmitters, wherein

each location transmitter transmits a location identifier signal comprising a location identifier indicative of a location of the respective location transmitter,

each of the plurality of beds includes a location receiver to receive the location identifier,

each of the plurality of surfaces includes a location receiver to receive the location identifier, and

the computing device associates the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces with the bed of the plurality of beds based upon the location identifier of the bed and the location identifier of the support surface.

6. A method for associating a bed of a plurality of beds and a support surface of a plurality of support surfaces, comprising

receiving data from the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces,

determining that a support surface of the plurality of support surfaces is placed upon a bed of the plurality of beds based upon the data received from the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces, and

updating data to associate the support surface and the bed.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising determining that the support surface is placed upon the bed based upon a location identifier of the support surface and a location identifier of the bed.

8. The method of claim 6, comprising

requesting a user to perform one or more actions upon the bed to identify the bed of the plurality of beds, and

determining that the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces is placed upon the bed of the plurality of beds based upon data that indicates the user performed the one or more actions upon the bed.

9. The method of claim 6, comprising

requesting a user to perform one or more actions upon the support surface to identify the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces, and

determining that the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces is placed upon the bed of the plurality of beds based upon data that indicates the user performed the one or more actions upon the support surface.

10. The method of claim 6, comprising

receiving location identifiers for the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces, and

determining that the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces is placed upon the bed of the plurality of beds based upon at least a portion of the location identifiers received for the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising

transmitting location identifiers from location transmitters located throughout a healthcare facility to the plurality of beds, and

determining that the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces is placed upon the bed of the plurality of beds based upon at least a portion of the location identifiers received for the plurality of beds.

12. For use in a healthcare facility comprising a plurality of location transmitters and a network, a bed comprising

a deck to receive a support surface,

a location receiver to receive a location identifier signal from a location transmitter of the plurality of location transmitters,

control circuitry to control operation of the bed and to control the transfer of data between the bed and the network of the healthcare facility, and

a network interface to establish a communications link between the bed and the network.

13. The bed of claim 12, further comprising a communications interface to establish a communications link between the bed and a support surface that has been placed into position upon the deck of the bed, wherein

the control circuitry controls operation of the support surface based upon data received from the network via the network interface by providing control words to the support surfaces via the communications interface.

14. The bed of claim 12, further comprising

a user interface comprising one or more user inputs to initiate a request to associate a support surface to the bed.

15. The bed of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry initiates a request to associate a support surface to the bed in response to one or more actions performed upon the bed.

16. The bed of claim 12, further comprising a user interface comprising a plurality of user inputs to control operation of the bed, wherein

the control circuitry initiates a request to associate a support surface to the bed in response to one or more actions performed upon the bed, and

the one or more actions includes actions beyond activating user inputs of the user interface.

17. The bed of claim 12, further comprising a user interface to request one or more actions be performed upon the support surface to be associated with the support surface, the one or more actions selected to identify the support surface from a plurality of support surfaces.

18. For use in a healthcare facility comprising a plurality of location transmitters and a network, a support surface to be placed upon a deck of a bed, comprising

a location receiver to receive a location identifier signal from a location transmitter of the plurality of location transmitters,

control circuitry to control operation of the support surface and to control the transfer of data between the bed and the network of the healthcare facility, and

a network interface to establish a communications link between the support surface and the network.

19. The support surface of claim 18, further comprising a communications interface to establish a communications link between the support surface and a bed upon which the support surface has been placed, wherein

the control circuitry controls operation of the bed based upon data received from the network via the network interface by providing control words to the bed via the communications interface.

20. The support surface of claim 18, further comprising

a user interface comprising one or more user inputs to initiate a request to associate a support surface to the bed.

21. The support surface of claim 18, wherein the control circuitry initiates a request to associate the support surface to the bed in response to one or more actions performed upon the support surface and/or bed.

22. The support surface of claim 18, further comprising a user interface to request one or more actions be performed upon the bed to be associated with the support surface.

23. A machine readable medium for associating beds and supports surfaces, comprising a plurality of instructions, that in response to being executed, result in a device

providing an interface to receive user input that identifies a bed of a healthcare facility and a location of the healthcare facility, and

updating data to reflect the bed being associated with the location of the healthcare facility in response to receiving user input that requests the bed be associated with the location.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 23, wherein the plurality of instructions, in response to being executed, further result in the device

providing the interface to further receive user input that identifies a support surface of the healthcare facility, and

updating data to further reflect the support surface being associated with the bed in response to receiving user input that requests the support surface be associated with the bed.

25. The machine readable medium of claim 23, wherein the plurality of instructions, in response to being executed, further result in the device

providing the interface to receive user input that identifies a previously associated bed, surface and location, and

updating data to reflect that the previously associated bed, surface and location are no longer associated in response to user input that requests the bed, surface and location be unassociated.