The present disclosure relates to features of patient support apparatuses such as hospital beds. In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to patient control arms having user inputs that a patient uses to control features and functions of hospital beds, as well as other features and functions. In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to user inputs for locking out the ability to use one or more controls or features of a patient support apparatus.
Handheld personal phones, aka smartphones, are owned by a large percentage of the population. Many owners of these phones often believe they could not function adequately without them. Patients in healthcare facilities prefer to have their phones accessible while admitted to a healthcare facility. However, current patient support apparatuses on the market today do not adequately address patients' desire for ease of use of their smartphones while confined to a patient support apparatus. Some patient's and caregivers may wish to interact with one another via the patient's phone. Other aspects of a patient's care while in a healthcare facility may be enhanced if a patient has access to their phone. Allowing patients better ergonomic use of their personal phones while confined to a hospital bed, for example, may improve their experience while in a hospital or other healthcare facility.
It is sometimes desirable for a patient to be supported in a patient support apparatus, such as a hospital bed, with a head section of a mattress support deck of the bed elevated above a threshold angle. The Joint Committee on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) recommends that, under some circumstances, a patient be supported on a hospital bed in a semi-recumbent position, instead of a supine position, to reduce the risk of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) occurrence. JCAHO recommends head-of-bed angle (HOBA) for mechanically ventilated patients of at least 45 degrees in order to prevent pneumonia. For patients at high risk of skin breakdown, a HOBA of at least 30 degrees is recommended in order to prevent pneumonia and the development of pressure ulcers. See U.S. Pat. No. 7,487,562 in this regard.
Some existing hospital beds have an alarm that sounds and/or that is sent as an alarm signal to a remote computer device, such as a nurse call computer, if the head section of the bed is lowered below the threshold angle while a HOBA monitoring system has been armed or enabled. This type of prior art bed is described in the '562 patent mentioned above. Minimizing the number of alarms in a healthcare facility to which caregivers must respond, including head of bed angle alarms, may increase caregiver productivity.
An apparatus, system, or method may comprise 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:
A patient control unit for controlling functions of a hospital bed may be provided. The patient control unit may include a housing having a first side that may include a plurality of user inputs to control the functions of the hospital bed. The housing may have a second side that may include a dock to secure a handheld phone in place on the housing.
The dock may comprise, for example, a clamp such as a clamp that may have a pair of clamp members. At least one clamp member of the pair of clamp members may be spring loaded and may be movable to permit the dock to accommodate handheld phones of different sizes. At least one clamp member of the pair of clamp members may have a notch through which a plug may access a port of the handheld phone when the handheld phone is secured to the dock.
In some embodiments, the housing may have a first side edge extending between the first side and the second side. The first side edge may be formed to include a cord wrap around which slack of a cord of the handheld phone may be wrapped. The cord wrap may comprise a cleat that may have first and second cleat arms. A plug port may be situated between the first and second cleats arms. The plug port may be configured for receipt of a plug of a cord of the handheld phone.
According to the present disclosure, the housing may have a first stay-in-bed indicia that may be illuminated when a patient position monitoring system of the hospital bed is armed. The first stay-in-bed indicia may be located generally above the handheld phone when the handheld phone is secured to the dock and the second side of the housing is oriented generally vertically. The housing may have a second stay-in-bed indicia that may be illuminated when the patient position monitoring system of the hospital bed is armed. The second stay-in-place indicia may be located above the user inputs when the first side of the housing is oriented generally vertically.
Further according to the present disclosure, the plurality of user inputs on the first side of the housing may include a nurse call button. The patient control unit may further include a second nurse call button on the second side of the housing. Each of the first and second nurse call buttons may be usable to send a nurse call signal from the hospital bed to a nurse call system. The second nurse call button may be located generally beneath the handheld phone when the handheld phone is secured to the dock and the second side of the housing is oriented generally vertically.
According to this disclosure, the patient control unit may include an arm assembly that may have a first end coupled to the housing and that may have a second end coupled to the hospital bed. For example, the second end of the arm assembly may be coupled to a pivotable head section of the hospital bed. The arm assembly may include an arm that may be configured to suspend the housing over a torso of a patient supported on the hospital bed. In some embodiments, the housing may be pivotable relative to the arm between a first position in which the first side of the housing may be presented to the patient and a second position in which the second side of the housing may be presented to the patient. The housing may have a top edge extending between the first and second sides and the first end of the housing may be coupled to the top edge of the housing.
The first and second sides of the housing are generally parallel to one another and face in opposite directions. The housing may be formed to include an aperture that may define a grip handle at a bottom of the housing such that the user inputs may be located above the grip handle on the first side of the housing and the dock may be located above the grip handle on the second side of the housing. In some embodiments, the housing may be generally trapezoidal in shape when viewed facing the first side and when viewed facing the second side.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a patient support apparatus may comprise a frame and a head section. The head section may be coupled to the frame and may be movable relative to the frame between raised and lowered angular positions. For example, the head section may be configured to support at least a portion of a torso of a patient. The patient support apparatus may further have a sensor that may be operable to provide a sensor signal indicative of an angular position of the head section. An actuator may be operable to move the head section between the raised and lowered angular positions. A controller may be coupled to the sensor and to the actuator. The controller may be configured to signal the actuator to move the head section.
The patient support apparatus may have a head-of-bed angle (HOBA) lockout selector that may be coupled to the controller. The HOBA lockout selector may have an on state and an off state. The controller may be prevented from signaling the actuator to move the head section below a threshold HOBA that may be defined between the raised and lowered angular positions when the HOBA selector is in the on state. The controller may be permitted to signal the actuator to move the head section throughout a full range of motion between the raised and lowered angular positions when the HOBA selector is in the off state.
The sensor may include at least one of the following: a potentiometer, an inclinometer, a limit switch, or an accelerometer. In some embodiments, the sensor may be included as a component of the actuator. The actuator may comprise an electrical linear actuator, for example.
The HOBA lockout selector may include a button or a membrane switch in some embodiments. Alternatively or additionally, the HOBA lockout selector may be shown on a touchscreen display. In some embodiments, the HOBA lockout selector may be located on a surface of a barrier of the patient support apparatus such as a surface that may face away from a patient supported on the head section.
According to this disclosure, the controller may be configured to receive a signal from a remote computer to change the HOBA lockout selector between the on state and the off state. The threshold HOBA may be a fixed value that may be stored in a memory associated with the controller. The threshold HOBA may be selectable between first and second threshold angles. For example, the threshold HOBA may be selectable using a graphical caregiver interface of the patient support apparatus.
In some embodiments, the HOBA lockout selector may include a visual indicator to indicate whether the HOBA lockout selector is in the on state or the off state. The visual indicator may comprise a light, such as a light emitting diode, for example. The light may be illuminated when the HOBA lockout selector is in the on state and the light may be off when the HOBA lockout selector is in the off state.
Additional features, which alone or in combination with any other feature(s), such as those listed above and those listed in the claims, may comprise patentable subject matter and will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of various embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the embodiments as presently perceived.
The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figures, in which:
A patient support apparatus, such as illustrative hospital bed 10, includes a frame 12 that, in turn, includes a base frame 14, an upper frame 16, and a patient support deck 18 as shown in
Bed 10 also has four casters 30 (only two of which can be seen in
Bed 10 has a footboard 40 coupled to foot deck section 18 at a foot end 42 of bed 10. In the illustrative example, a caregiver control pod 44 extends upwardly from a central region of a top bar 46 of footboard 40. Caregiver controls, in the form of user inputs such as one or more of buttons, switches, touchscreen displays, and the like are provided on the surface of pod 44 that faces away from mattress 28. Thus, the caregiver controls are generally inaccessible to a patient lying on mattress 28. In some embodiments, the caregiver controls on pod 44 are similar to one or more of the user inputs discussed below in connection with
Bed 10 also includes a set of siderails 48a, 48b, 48c, 48d as shown in
Recess 52 is sized and configured to receive a patient's personal handheld phone 60 (e.g., a smartphone) therein. A retention bar 57 is provided on siderail 48a and bridges across recess 52 to help retain phone 60 therein as shown in
Bed 10 also include a patient control unit 70 that includes a generally trapezoidal shaped housing 72 and an arm assembly 74 as shown in
Referring now to
Speakers (not shown) are located behind speaker grills 136 in the upper corner regions of first side 76 as shown in
Referring now
Still referring to
In the illustrative example of housing 72, another stay-in-bed indicia 144′ is provided on boss 142 on second side 78 of housing 72. Indicia 144′ is located generally above the handheld phone 148 when the handheld phone 148 is secured to the dock 146 and the second side 78 of the housing 72 is oriented generally vertically as shown in
Referring now to
As shown diagrammatically in
The head section 20 is diagrammatically shown in
Still referring to
It is contemplated by this disclosure that the head-of-bed angle of the head section 20 may be measured or calculated with respect to any other portion of the bed 10, such as for example the upper frame 16, seat section 22, or base frame 14, or with respect to horizontal or vertical. Thus, it is contemplated that one or more types of angle sensors 172, such as a potentiometer, limit switch, ball switch, accelerometer, inclinometer, linear variable displacement transducer (LVDT), or hall effect sensor, just to name a few, may be provided on bed 10 to provide signals that are used to measure or calculate angles of bed components to arrive at the head-of-bed angle of head section 20. In some embodiments, the angle sensor 172 is included as a component of the actuator 178. The actuator 178 may comprise an electrical linear actuator, for example, in such embodiments.
Regardless of the type of sensor used, angle sensor 172 provides a sensor signal to controller 176 indicative of an angular position of the head section 20 of bed 10. When the HOBA lockout system 170 is disabled or deactivated (these terms are intended to be used interchangeably), actuator 178 is operable under the command of controller 176 to move the head section 20 between raised and lowered angular positions.
HOBA lockout selector 174 has an on state and an off state. The controller 176 is prevented from signaling the actuator 178 to move the head section 20 below a threshold HOBA defined between the raised and lowered angular positions when the HOBA lockout selector is in the on state. The controller 176 is permitted to signal the actuator 178 to move the head section 20 throughout a full range of motion between the raised and lowered angular positions when the HOBA lockout selector is in the off state. Any attempt to lower head section 20 below the threshold angle when the HOBA lockout selector is in the on state is considered an alarm condition, in some embodiments, resulting in controller 176 activating alarm 182 and/or sending an alarm signal to remote computer device 184.
The HOBA lockout selector 174 includes a button or a membrane switch in some embodiments. Alternatively or additionally, the HOBA lockout selector 174 is shown on a touchscreen display of bed 10. In some embodiments, the HOBA lockout selector 174 is located on a surface of a barrier, such as footboard 40 or siderails 48a, 48b, 48c, 48d, for example. Typically, the surface on which selector 174 is located faces away from the patient supported on bed 10.
Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the controller 176 is configured to receive a signal from remote computer device 184 to change the HOBA lockout selector 174 between the on state and the off state. The threshold HOBA is a fixed value that may be stored in a memory associated with the controller 176 in some embodiments. Alternatively or additionally, the threshold HOBA is selectable between first and second threshold angles, or really, any number of desired threshold angles. For example, the threshold HOBA may be selectable using a graphical caregiver interface of the patient support apparatus 10.
Referring now to
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.
The present application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/023,994, which was filed Jul. 14, 2014, and which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
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