Bed status system for a patient support apparatus

• US 9,489,818 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Vanderpohl, Irvin J. III
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phung
• Application Number:
  US14/870,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20160019771A1
• Time in Patent Office: 405 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.22, 340/573.1, 340/286.01, 340/286.07, 340/539.12, 340/591.6, 340/13.24, 705/2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 27/081 of pneumatic type
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1115 Monitoring leaving of a patient support, e.g. a bed or a wheelchair
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 7/012 raising or lowering of the whole mattress frame A61G7/005, A61G7/008 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 7/05 Parts, details or accessories of beds devices for prevention against falling out A47C21/08, A47D7/00 ; mattresses A47C27/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

A bed status system includes a patient support apparatus having a status, a location unit configured to provide a location to the patient support apparatus, and a bed status module coupled to the location unit and the patient support apparatus to receive the status and the location.

Claims

1. A bed status module for use outside a patient room in which a patient bed is located, the bed status module comprising

a housing;

a plurality of indicators coupled to the housing and operable to indicate bed status, the plurality of indicators including a first indicator operable to convey information regarding a position of a portion of a bed frame of the patient bed and a second indicator operable to convey information regarding a bed exit system of the patient bed, and

circuitry carried by the housing, the circuitry including a user interface configured to receive user input, wherein the user input includes a delay input that is used to put the second indicator on hold for a period of time.

2. The bed status module of claim 1, wherein the portion of the bed frame for which the first indicator is operable to convey information is a siderail of the bed frame.

3. The bed status module of claim 2, wherein the first indicator is illuminated green to indicate a desired status and is illuminated a color other than green to indicate an undesired status.

4. The bed status module of claim 3, wherein the desired status includes the siderail being in a raised position and the undesired status includes the siderail being in a lowered position.

5. The bed status module of claim 3, wherein the desired status includes the mattress support structure being in a lowered position and the undesired status includes the mattress support structure being in a position other than the lowered position.

6. The bed status module of claim 1, wherein the portion of the bed frame for which the first indicator is operable to convey information is a mattress support structure of the bed frame.

7. The bed status module of claim 6, wherein the first indicator is illuminated green to indicate a desired status and is illuminated a color other than green to indicate an undesired status.

8. The bed status module of claim 1, wherein the second indicator is illuminated green to indicate a desired status of the bed exit system and is illuminated a color other than green to indicate an undesired status of the bed exit system.

9. The bed status module of claim 8, wherein the desired status includes the patient not attempting to exit the patient bed and the undesired status includes the patient attempting to exit the patient bed.

10. The bed status module of claim 1, wherein the plurality of indicators include a third indicator operable to convey information regarding a patient support surface of the patient bed.

11. The bed status module of claim 10, wherein the third indicator is illuminated green to indicate a desired status of the patient support surface and is illuminated a color other than green to indicate an undesired status of the patient support surface.

12. The bed status module of claim 11, wherein the desired status includes the patient support surface being inflated to a first pressure within a desired pressure range and the undesired status includes the patient support surface being inflated to a second pressure outside the desired pressure range.

13. The bed status module of claim 1, wherein the plurality of indicators include a third indicator operable to convey information regarding at least one of the following:

an angle of a patient'"'"'s back and head or an incontinence event.

14. The bed status module of claim 1, wherein the circuitry carried by the housing is coupled to the plurality of indicators and wherein the information regarding the position of the portion of the bed frame of the patient bed and the information regarding the bed exit system of the patient bed are encoded in signals received wirelessly by the circuitry.

15. The bed status module of claim 1, wherein the circuitry carried by the housing is coupled to the plurality of indicators, the circuitry being configured to receive location data transmitted wirelessly by a location unit in the patient room.

16. The bed status module of claim 15, wherein the location data received by the circuitry is routed from the location unit through at least one intermediary device.

17. The bed status module of claim 16, wherein the at least one intermediary device comprises at least one of the following:

the patient bed or a remote server.

18. The bed status module of claim 1, further comprising an audio output that sounds if bed status is undesirable.

19. The bed status module of claim 1, wherein the circuitry includes a power supply.

20. The bed status module of claim 19, wherein the power supply comprises one or more of the following:

a battery, a wire that receives power from another power supply, or a transformer.