The present disclosure is related to patient support apparatuses including inflatable mattresses. More specifically, the present disclosure is related to a patient support apparatus having an inflatable mattress that varies in size during movement of the patient support apparatus to a chair egress position.
Patient support apparatuses, such as hospital beds, for example, may include deck sections that are expandable or retractable to vary the size of the deck section. For example, a patient support apparatus may include a deck section to support the lower legs with the foot deck section being extendable or retractable to act as a foot prop to support the foot of a patient on the patient support apparatus. In patient support apparatuses that move to a chair egress position, such as the Hill-Rom® TotalCare® bed, the foot deck section may retract to prevent interference with the floor when the foot deck section is lowered to a generally vertical position.
When a hospital bed moves to a chair egress position, the leg portion of the mattress of the hospital bed may present interference for the legs of a patient during the egress process. Mattresses also must be reduced in size during retraction of the leg portion of the bed. In the case of inflatable mattresses, the mattress may be deflated to reduce the size of the mattress. Material of the mattress sometimes sags to the floor due to the lack of support provided by air in the leg portion of the mattress when the leg portion is deflated.
The present application discloses one or more of the features recited in the appended claims and/or the following features which, alone or in any combination, may comprise patentable subject matter.
According to the present disclosure, a patient support apparatus includes a source of pressurized air, an inflatable support structure, and a retraction management system. The inflatable support structure includes a bladder assembly in fluid communication with the source of pressurized air. The retraction management system includes a bias member acting on the inflatable support structure in equilibrium with the bladder assembly to control the size and position of the inflatable support structure during inflation and deflation of the bladder assembly.
In some embodiments, the patient support apparatus further includes a controller to control the source of pressurized air to vary the pressure in the bladder assembly.
The bladder assembly may have a length, a width, and a depth. The retraction management system may include an elastic material which acts on the bladder assembly to minimize the depth dimension. The retraction management system may also act on the bladder assembly to minimize the length dimension.
In some embodiments, a bias member of the retraction management system passes through an aperture formed in a bladder of the bladder assembly. The retraction management system may further include an anchor coupled to a first end of the bias member that passes through the aperture formed in a bladder of the bladder assembly. The retraction management system may further include a retainer coupled to a second end of the bias member. The bias member may urge the retainer against the bladder with the retainer urged toward the anchor to control the position and size of the bladder during inflation and deflation of the bladder.
In some embodiments, the bladder assembly includes a plurality of adjacent bladders and the bias member passes through an aperture formed in each respective bladder. The retainer is urged against a first one of the bladders with the first bladder acting on an adjacent bladder. Each successive bladder acts on an adjacent bladder to control the position and size of the bladder assembly during inflation and deflation of the bladder assembly.
In some embodiments, each of the bladders is formed with a plurality of apertures such that the apertures in each bladder align with the apertures in adjacent bladders to form a path through the plurality of bladders. The retraction management system may include a plurality of bias members, each of the bias members passing through a separate path formed in the plurality of bladders. Each of the bias members may be coupled to an anchor and a retainer, each retainer acting on the bladder assembly to control the position and size of the bladder assembly during inflation and deflation of the bladder assembly.
In some embodiments, the patient support apparatus further includes a variable length deck section having an actuator that extends and retracts to vary the length of the deck section and a controller coupled to the source of pressurized and the actuator. The controller coordinates the inflation and deflation of the bladder assembly with the extension and retraction of the actuator.
The retraction management system may further include a depth control assembly acting on the bladder assembly to manage the depth of the bladder assembly during inflation and deflation of the bladder assembly. The depth control assembly may include an upper retainer that overlies the bladder assembly and a pair of bias members positioned on opposite lateral sides of the bladder assembly. The bias members urging the upper retainer to engage the bladder assembly to control the depth of the bladder assembly by maintaining equilibrium between the force exerted by the pressure in the bladder assembly and the force exerted by the depth control assembly.
In some embodiments, the bias members of the depth control assembly are each secured at one end to the upper retainer and at an opposite end to the deck.
The depth control assembly may further include a lower retainer. The bias members may each be secured at one end to the upper retainer and secured at the other end to the lower retainer. The bias members then urge the retainers together to control the depth of the bladder assembly by maintaining equilibrium between the force exerted by the pressure in the bladder assembly and the force exerted by the depth control assembly.
The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figures, in which:
A patient support apparatus, illustratively embodied as a hospital bed 10 shown in
As shown in
Referring now to
Extension and retraction of the foot deck section 20 may be used to modify the length of the hospital bed 10 to accommodate patients of different heights, or may be used to retract the foot deck section 20 when the foot deck section 20 is moved to the generally vertical position as shown in
The upper frame 14 is tiltable relative to the floor 104 to increase form an angle 128 of at least about 7°. In some embodiments, the angle 128 could be at least as much as 15°. In this attitude, the thigh deck section 98 is positioned approximately horizontally as shown in
Referring now to
In one illustrative embodiment, a bladder 38 includes two apertures 40 and 42 formed in a body 44 of the bladder 38. The body 44 of the bladder 38 supports the feet of a patient supported on the mattress 28. As shown in
Referring now to
In the configuration shown in
Referring now to
The sidewalls 70, 72 are each formed with a number of perforations 80 which are open spaces that collapse when the foot deck section 20 is retracted as shown in
In another embodiment of a bladder assembly 132, shown in
In yet another embodiment shown in
In some embodiments, it is contemplated that the use of apertures through bladders as disclosed with regard to foot section bladder assembly 32 may be used in conjunction with the retraction management systems 140 and 160. Thus, a compound retraction management system may include a retraction management system similar to retraction management system 62 used in conjunction with a retraction management system 140 or 160 so that both the length of a bladder assembly and the depth of the bladder assembly may be controlled by the compound retraction management system.
Although certain illustrative embodiments have been described in detail above, variations and modifications exist within the scope and spirit of this disclosure as described and as defined in the following claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/963,026, filed Dec. 8, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,595,873, which is incorporated herein by this reference.
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Parent | 12963026 | Dec 2010 | US |
Child | 14093881 | US |