US-12622833-B2 - Patient support with deck width monitoring and control

US12622833B2US 12622833 B2US12622833 B2US 12622833B2US-12622833-B2

Abstract

A patient support, such as a bed, a cot, a stretcher, or the like, for supporting an occupant includes sensors adapted to detect a status of the patient support, such as the width of the width-adjustable patient support component or the locked or unlocked state of the patient support component. A control system for the patient support is configured to determine if the patient support is in an unacceptable status, such as an unacceptable width configuration or an unlocked state, based on the sensed status. The control system is adapted to issue an alert or take action or prompt a caregiver to take an action if the patient support status is unacceptable.

Inventors

Jason J. Connell
Xianyu Shea
Marco Constant
Joseph Steven David Elku
Jeffrey C. Shiery
Madhu Thomas
Jason J. Cerny
Carlos Vicente
Cory P. Herbst
Alexis Huizar
Mohamad Kashen

Assignees

STRYKER CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240715

Claims (20)

1 . A patient support comprising: a patient support component, the patient support component being an adjustable width component having an adjustable width relative to a longitudinal axis of the patient support such that a change in the width of the adjustable width component changes an overall width of the patient support, said adjustable width component including a latch mechanism to lock the width of the adjustable width component; a control system comprising: a sensor adapted to detect a locked status of the latch mechanism indicative of the latch mechanism of the adjustable width component being locked at a current width of the adjustable width component and at a corresponding overall width of the patient support, the sensor being adapted to detect the width status of the adjustable width component, the sensor being adapted to generate a signal based on the locked status and the width status; and a controller in communication with the sensor and configured to receive the signal, the controller configured to determine, based on the signal, whether the latch mechanism is locked or unlocked for the adjustable width component.
2 . The patient support of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to determine the width of the patient support component based on the signal from the sensor.
3 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the patient support component includes a plurality of deck sections, each of said deck sections having an adjustable width, and said latch mechanism comprising a latch mechanism for each deck section.
4 . The patient support of claim 3 , wherein the widths of the deck section are independently adjustable.
5 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is adapted to detect the width status of the patient support component based on a characteristic of the latch mechanism.
6 . The patient support of claim 4 , further comprising a patient support deck frame having a fixed section and a movable section, and two or more latch pin cutouts in either the fixed section or the movable section of the patient support deck frame, the latch pin cutouts having varying dimensions, the latch pin having a stepped diameter and being mounted to the other of the fixed section or the movable section, wherein the latch pin is receivable by a respective latch pin cutout of the two or more latch pin cutouts when the movable section of the patient support deck frame moves to a position corresponding to a designated width of the patient support component, and the latch pin being adapted to extend into the respective latch pin cutout to a depth as allowed by the stepped diameter of the latch pin and the dimension of the respective latch pin cutout.
7 . The patient support of claim 3 , wherein the characteristic of the latch pin is the profile of the latch pin.
8 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the latch mechanism includes a latch pin, wherein the characteristic is a characteristic of the latch pin.
9 . The patient support of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to sense if the latch pin is extended into a respective latch pin cutout to thereby sense the locked condition or the unlocked condition of the latch pin and to determine a corresponding width of the patient support component based on the sensed depth at which the latch pin extends into the respective latch pin cutout.
10 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the control system comprises: a second sensor adapted to sense a width of the patient support component; and the controller being in communication with the second sensor, the controller configured to determine if the patient support component is in an unacceptable width configuration based on the sensed width of the patient support component and adapted to generate a signal to issue an alert or a prompt to a caregiver to take action, if the patient support component is determined to be in an unacceptable width configuration.
11 . The patient support of claim 10 , comprising a sensor system including the second sensor and adapted to sense multiple acceptable discrete widths of the patient support component, the second sensor being an optical sensor configured to sense light reflected from the reflective surface, wherein each of the multiple acceptable discrete widths is associated with one of the multiple different sections of the reflective surface such that each of the multiple acceptable discrete widths is associated with a different reflectivity of the reflective surface; and wherein the controller is configured to sense a width of the patient support component corresponding to one of the multiple acceptable discrete widths based on the light reflected from the reflective surface and sensed by the optical sensor, the controller configured to determine if the patient support component is in an acceptable width configuration based on a sensed width of the patient support component corresponding to one of the multiple acceptable discrete widths.
12 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the patient support component is a patient support deck.
13 . A control system for a patient support, the patient support including a patient support component being an adjustable width component having an adjustable width relative to a longitudinal axis of the patient support such that a change in the width of the adjustable width component changes an overall width of the patient support, the adjustable width component including a latch mechanism operable to lock the width of the patient support component, the control system comprising: a sensor system adapted to detect a status of the latch mechanism indicative of the latch mechanism of the adjustable width component being locked at a current width of the adjustable width component and at a corresponding overall width of the patient support, said sensor system adapted to detect a component status of the adjustable width component, the sensor system operable to generate a signal based on at least one of the status and the component status; and a controller in communication with the sensor system and configured to receive the signal, the controller configured to determine, based on the signal, whether the latch mechanism is locked or unlocked for the adjustable width component.
14 . The control system of claim 13 wherein the status of the latch mechanism corresponds to a lock status of the latch mechanism, and wherein the component status of the patient support component corresponds to a width status of the patient support component.
15 . The control system of claim 13 wherein the controller is configured to determine the width of the patient support component.
16 . The control system of claim 13 wherein the sensor system is configured to detect the status of the patient support component based on a characteristic of the latch mechanism.
17 . The control system of claim 13 wherein the latch mechanism includes a latch pin, and wherein the sensor system is configured to determine the status of the latch mechanism based on a characteristic of the latch pin.
18 . The control system of claim 17 , wherein the characteristic of the latch pin is the profile of the latch pin.
19 . The control system of claim 17 , wherein the sensor system is configured to sense if the latch pin is extended into a respective latch pin cutout to thereby sense a locked condition or an unlocked condition of the latch pin, wherein the status of the latch mechanism is based on whether the latch pin is in the locked condition or the unlocked condition.
20 . The control system of claim 19 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a corresponding width of the patient support component based on a sensed depth at which the latch pin extends into the respective latch pin cutout.

Description

BACKGROUND This disclosure relates to patient supports, such as hospital beds, and more specifically, adjustable width patient supports. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to adjustable width patient supports that include sensors for sensing the status of the patient support. Typical hospital beds are designed with numerous functionalities to facilitate patient comfort and safety and to facilitate the ability of caregivers to provide efficient and effective care. However, most hospital beds are designed to accommodate patients of average size and weight. For bariatric patients, i.e., morbidly obese patients having extremely large sizes and whose weights can be as high as 1000 pounds or greater, normal hospital beds are generally too small and lack sufficient structural strength to withstand the load of a bariatric patient. Special bariatric beds have been designed to accommodate bariatric patients, but these beds generally lack the functionalities of regular hospital bed. SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION According to various embodiments, a patient support is provided that may be adjusted in height, width, and/or length. In one embodiment, a patient support includes a patient support deck, a sensor for sensing a status of the patient support deck, and a controller in communication with the sensor. The controller is configured to generate a signal based on the sensor signals, such as the status detected by the sensor. In one embodiment, the status is an acceptable and/or an unacceptable configuration. In some embodiments, the status includes an unknown status. In some embodiments, the sensor can detect whether the patient support deck is locked or unlocked, and the status of the patient support deck is related to the locked or unlocked condition of the patient support deck. For example, the unlocked status may represent an unacceptable configuration of the patient support deck. In other embodiments, the sensor is configured to detect the width, and the status of the patient support deck is related to the width of the patient support deck. Depending on the width of the patient support deck, the width may represent an unacceptable configuration or an acceptable configuration. For example, where the patient support deck includes multiple deck sections, when one of the deck sections has a different width than the other deck section or deck sections, the different width or widths may represent an unacceptable configuration of the patient support deck. In other embodiments, even when all the widths of the deck section are the same, if any of the deck sections are unlocked, then this may represent an unacceptable configuration. In yet other embodiments, even if all the deck section widths are the same, and the deck sections are locked, the controller may take action or prompt a user to take action. In another embodiment, a patient support includes a patient support deck having an adjustable width and a control system. The control system includes a sensor adapted to sense the width of the patient support deck and a controller in communication with the sensor. Based on the sensor signals, the controller is configured to determine if the patient support deck is in an unacceptable configuration based on the sensed deck support width, and the controller may be configured to generate a signal, such as a signal that generates an alert or a signal that prevents motion of the patient support or a component of the patient support, if the patient support deck is in an unacceptable configuration. In yet another embodiment, a patient support includes a patient support deck having an adjustable width and a control system. The patient support deck includes a latch to lock the width of the deck. The control system includes a sensor adapted to sense the locked or unlocked status of the latch, and optionally the width of the deck based on a sensed characteristic of the latch mechanism, and a controller in communication with the sensor. Based on the sensor signals, the controller is configured to determine if the patient support deck is in an unacceptable configuration based on the sensed locked or unlocked status, and optionally the width of, the patient support deck, and the control system is configured to generate a signal, such as a signal that generates an alert or a signal that prevents motion of the patient support or a component of the patient support, if the patient support deck is in an unacceptable configuration. In one embodiment, where the patient support deck includes multiple deck sections, when one of the deck sections has a different width than the other deck section or deck sections, the different width may represent an unacceptable configuration of the patient support deck. In any of the above embodiments, the signal may generate an alert to a caregiver. In any of the above embodiments, the signal may generate a prompt to a caregiver to take action. In any of the above embodiments, the signal may be used to