Bed status information system for hospital beds

• US 6,147,592 A
• Filed: 12/15/1997
• Issued: 11/14/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hill-Rom Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Scott, Tom, Ulrich, Daniel J., Novak, Joe, Weismiller, Matthew W., Myers, Julie, Jennings, Bob
• Primary Examiner(s): Lefkowitz, Edward
• Application Number:
  US08/985,757
• Time in Patent Office: 1,065 Days
• Field of Search: 340/286.06, 340/286.07, 340/825.08, 340/825.52
• US Class Current: 340/286.07
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1115 Monitoring leaving of a patient support, e.g. a bed or a wheelchair
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/90 Identification means for patients or instruments, e.g. tags
• 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 2203/12 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 2203/70 with special adaptations, e.g. for safety or comfort
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/009 Signalling of the alarm condition to a substation whose identity is signalled to a central station, e.g. relaying alarm signals in order to extend communication range
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/014 Alarm signalling to a central station with two-way communication, e.g. with signalling back
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/12 Manually actuated calamity alarm transmitting arrangements emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm, activators, e.g. details of alarm push buttons mounted on an infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/222 Personal calling arrangements or devices, i.e. paging systems selective calling systems and call receivers H04W84/00, H04W68/00
• 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

Abstract

A bed status information system for indicating to attending personnel the status of a patient bed includes bed condition input signal generators carried by the bed and coupled to operational elements on the bed, which have one or more monitorable conditions. The signal generators are operable to monitor a bed element condition and input signal indicative of the status of the monitored condition. An interface board on the bed processes the bed condition input signal and generates bed condition messages, which indicate the status of the monitored condition. A processing station remote from the bed is electrically coupled via a datalink to the interface board and is operable to receive the bed condition messages and indicate the status of the patient bed and its operational elements to attending personnel at a location remote from the bed, thereby eliminating the need for constant personnel attendance at the bed. The system is capable for monitoring a variety of different bed operational element systems, as well as providing a remote processing station and identification number for the bed, bed-type information, and a list of the operational capabilities of the bed.

Claims

1. A patient monitoring system for indicating to attending personnel the status of a patient support system, the patient monitoring system comprising:

at least one patient support system condition sensor system coupled to the patient support system, the sensor system configured to monitor a condition of the patient support system and to generate a signal indicative of a status of the monitored condition; and

a processing station including a display device remote from the patient support system, the processing station coupled to the sensor system by a datalink, the processing station configured to receive information related to the signal indicative of the status of the monitored condition over the datalink and to process the information to provide an indication on the display device of the status of the monitored condition.

2. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the datalink is a serial datalink.

3. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the information related to the signal indicative of the status of the monitored condition comprises a message including a data field containing data that corresponds to the types of monitored conditions for a particular patient support system.

4. The patient monitoring system of claim 3, wherein the message includes message validation information.

5. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one patient support system condition sensor system includes a patient support system exit detection system armed sensor.

6. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one patient support system condition sensor system includes a patient support system exit detection sensor.

7. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one patient support system condition sensor system includes a pressure sensor.

8. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one patient support system condition sensor system includes a patient support system rail sensor.

9. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one patient support system condition sensor system includes a patient support system height sensor.

10. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one patient support system condition sensor system includes a patient support system operating mode sensor.

11. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the processing station continually updates the status of the monitored condition.

12. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising an interface board coupled to the at least one patient support system condition sensor system and to the datalink, the interface board including a processor configured to receive the signal indicative of the status of the monitored condition and to send a sensor message based on the information related to the signal indicative of the status of the monitored condition over the datalink to the processing station.

13. The patient monitoring system of claim 12 further comprising an interface unit coupled to the interface board and to the datalink, the interface unit configured to receive the sensor message from the interface board and to send a system message to the processing station based on the sensor message.

14. A patient monitoring system for indicating to attending personnel the status of a patient support system, the patient monitoring system comprising:

at plurality of sensors coupled to the patient support system, each sensor configured to monitor a condition of the patient support system and to generate a signal indicative of a status of the monitored condition; and

a processing station including a display device remote from the patient support system, the processing station coupled to the plurality of sensors by a datalink, the processing station configured to receive information related to the signals indicative of the status of the monitored conditions over the datalink and to process the information to provide an indication on the display device of the status of the monitored conditions.

15. The patient monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the datalink is a serial datalink.

16. The patient monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the information related to the signal indicative of the status of the monitored condition comprises a message including a data field containing data that corresponds to the types of monitored conditions for a particular patient support system.

17. The patient monitoring system of claim 16 wherein the message includes message validation information.

18. The patient monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the processing station continually updates the status of the monitored conditions.

19. The patient monitoring system of claim 14, further comprising an interface board coupled to the plurality of sensors and to the datalink, the interface board including a processor configured to receive the signals indicative of the status of the monitored conditions and to send sensor messages containing the information related to the signals indicative of the status of the monitored conditions over the datalink to the processing station.

20. The patient monitoring system of claim 19, further comprising an interface unit coupled to the interface board and to the datalink, the interface unit configured to receive the sensor messages from the interface board and to send system messages to the processing station based on the sensor messages.