Patient dashboard display for nurse call system

Abstract

A patient dashboard display selectively shows bed status data, vital signs data, and patient risk data for a number of patients in a tile format or in a table format. In the tile format, less data is shown for each patient than in the table format. A series of thumbnails corresponding to patient rooms in a unit or ward of a healthcare facility are shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles. A number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails is greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile. The tiles and thumbnails are color-coded to indicate alert status for each patient or patient room.

Description

PATIENT DASHBOARD DISPLAY FOR NURSE CALL SYSTEMCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C § 119(e), of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 654,976, filed June 1, 2024, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 749,948, filed January 27, 2025, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.BACKGROUND

[0002] The present disclosure relates to nurse call systems for alerting caregivers of alert conditions in patient rooms of healthcare facilities and particularly, to managing data shown on status board displays located at master nurse stations of healthcare facilities. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to patient dashboard displays that lessen the cognitive mental burden of caregivers viewing such displays.

[0003] In the modem healthcare setting, a wide variety of sophisticated patient care devices are available for use in caring for patients. For example, most patients in hospitals and other similar types of healthcare facilities are assigned to patient rooms having respective patient beds that generate a large amount of bed status data including, bed exit status data, siderail position data, caster brake status data, head of bed (HOB) data, patient weight data, data indicating whether an upper frame of the bed is in its lowest position, mattress status data, connectivity status data, and service status data, just to name a few. The patients may receive fluids from intravenous (IV) fluid pumps (aka “IV pumps”) and have various vital signs monitored on an ongoing basis with heart rate and / or respiration monitors, or on an intermittent basis with blood pressure devices, pulse oximeters for measuring blood oxygenation (aka “SpO2”), thermometers for measuring patient temperature, and so forth. The patient status data from such patient monitoring devices is oftentimes communicated to electronic medical record (EMR) systems, either via manual entry by caregivers or via electronic communication from the devices to the EMR system. Some patients may also receive treatment from other devices, such as hemodialysis machines, that generate even more device status data.

[0004] Most modern healthcare facilities have nurse call systems that generate nurse calls to caregivers in response to bed status data indicating an undesired bed state or in response to a patient pressing a nurse call button on the respective bed or on a hand held unit known in the art as a pillow speaker unit, or just “pillow speaker.” Some such nurse call systems includeindicator lights, referred to in the art as “dome lights,” located in the hallways of the healthcare facility adjacent to doors of the respective rooms to indicate, among other things, that a nurse call has been placed or generated for the respective room. Such nurse call systems also may include status board displays at master nurse stations which show bed status and nurse call information. The status board displays are typically large electronic display screens that are hung on walls at the master nurse station and that are viewable by caregivers or anyone else that happens to be in the vicinity of the master nurse station. Similar status boards may be available for viewing at other locations such as in hallways of a unit or ward of the healthcare facility or in caregiver breakrooms.

[0005] Based on the foregoing, it will be appreciated that there is a large amount of device status data and nurse calls occurring in a healthcare facility such that there is an ongoing need to enhance caregiver workflow and efficiency by filtering and refining bed data, patient vitals and status data, and patient risk data to truncate displayed data on status boards at master nurse stations or elsewhere in a healthcare facility, such as in hallways or breakrooms. In this regard, caregivers would welcome intelligent filtering of the large amount of available data from patient care devices so that only key pieces of data is displayed at relevant times, such as when an alert condition is occurring, to thereby lessen the amount of viewable information being displayed at any given time so that information overload is reduced or avoided.SUMMARY

[0006] 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:

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a nurse call system may include a nurse call server that may be configured to receive device status data originating from patient care devices and patient risk data that may be input by caregivers or that may be calculated based on at least some of the status data. The nurse call system of the first aspect also may include a display that may be coupled to the nurse call server to display at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data. The nurse call server may be operable to command the display to show the device status data and the patient risk data on the display in a table format in which room identifiers of patient rooms of a healthcare facility may correspond to rows of a table and the rows may extend horizontally in the table. The device status data and patient risk data may be shown in columns of the table such that each row of thetable may have fields corresponding to the respective columns. The nurse call server may be operable to command the display to show a lesser amount of the device status data in a tile format in which tiles corresponding to a subset of the patient rooms may be displayed horizontally side-by-side on the display. Each tile may have a patient risk zone in which one or more patient risk icons relating to the patient risk data may be displayed. Each tile may have a device status zone in which one or more device status icons relating to the device status data may be displayed. The nurse call system of the first aspect further may include an administration computer that may be coupled to the nurse call server and that may be operable to select which device status data may be shown in the columns of the table and which device status data may have corresponding device status icons shown in at least some of the device status zones of each tile.

[0008] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the first aspect, the device status zones of each tile may include a vital signs zone and the status data may include patient vital signs data that may be displayed in the vital signs zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding patient room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount. For example, the vital signs data may include heart rate, a heart icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate, an up arrow may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate increases by an amount equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate decreases by an amount equal to or greater than the threshold amount. As another example, the vital signs data may include respiration rate, a lungs icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate, an up arrow may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate increases by an amount equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate decreases by an amount equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0009] The present disclosure contemplates that the device status zones of each tile of the first aspect may include a bed status zone and the status data may include bed status data that may be displayed in the bed status zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room. For example, the bed status data may be displayed using bed status icons that may include icons indicating one or more of the following: bed exit system status, a head section of the bed being above a threshold angle, the head section of the be being below the threshold angle, caster brake status, siderail position status, a mattress operating in an alternating pressure mode, the mattressof the bed being in a lateral rotation mode, and the mattress of the bed being in an alternating pressure mode. If desired, the one or more patient risk icons may include one or more of the following: a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is a falls risk, a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pressure sores, and a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pulmonary complications.

[0010] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the first mode, at least a portion of each tile may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data and the at least the portion of each tile may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data. Optionally, each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition may be occurring may be displayed so as to be larger than each of the tiles corresponding to patient rooms in which no alert condition is occurring.Further optionally, an extension field may be appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition may be occurring and the extension field may provide additional information regarding the alert condition. For example, the extension field may be appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile. Still further optionally, if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions may be shown simultaneously in the extension field.

[0011] The present disclosure contemplates that the additional information regarding the alert condition may include an alert icon. For example, the alert icon may include one or more of the following: patient out of position icon, patient bed exit icon, a head section icon indicating that the head section of the bed may be below a threshold angle, caster brake icon indicating that one or more of the bed casters may have been unbraked, a bed not low icon indicating that an upper frame of the bed may not be in its lowest position, a mattress error icon indicating that a mattress of the bed may not be operating properly, siderail down icon indicating that one or more bed siderails may not be in their raised positions, a bed disconnection icon indicating a loss of connectivity of the bed to alternating current (AC) power or to the nurse call system, and a bed service icon indicating that at least one component of the bed may require service.

[0012] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the first aspect, the device status data may include bed status data and patient vital signs data. If desired, at least a portion of each tile may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in thecorresponding patient room as indicated by any of the device status data, the at least the portion of each tile may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data, and the at least the portion of each tile may be displayed in a third color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the vital signs monitor status data.

[0013] Optionally, the display of the first aspect may display a user selectable field that may be selectable to switch between the table format and the tile format. Further optionally, each tile shown in the tile format may be selectable by a caregiver to navigate to a comprehensive patient data screen that may show more patient data than may be shown in the tile and table formats. For example, the comprehensive patient data screen may displays data points for a plurality of previous readings of patient temperature, patient weight, heart rate, and respiration rate for a patient in the patient room corresponding to the selected tile. Alternatively or additionally, the comprehensive patient data screen may display numerical values for one or more of the following patient risk scores: a pressure score, a falls risk score, a mobility score, a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS). Further alternatively or additionally, the comprehensive patient data screen of the first aspect may display a trending graph that may show trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’ s heart rate and respiration rate. Still further alternatively or additionally, the comprehensive patient data screen may display the most recent reading for each of the following of the corresponding patient: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, blood pressure, and temperature.

[0014] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the first aspect in connection with the tile format, a series of thumbnails that may correspond to the patient rooms in a unit or ward of the healthcare facility may be shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles. It is contemplated by the present disclosure that a number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails may be greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile. Optionally, the display may include a context box that may surround a subset of thumbnails of the series of thumbnails with the subset of thumbnails corresponding to the tiles currently being displayed on the display. Further optionally, the context box may cycle from surrounding a first subset of thumbnails to surrounding a second subset of thumbnails at a cycling time which may vary depending upon the amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the first subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

[0015] If desired, each tile of the first aspect may be at least four times larger than each thumbnail. Also if desired, at least four times more thumbnails may be shown on the display than the number of the tiles being shown. Further if desired, each tile may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, each tile may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and the thumbnails within the context box may be color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile. Optionally, the thumbnails may be displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display. Further optionally, a room number may be displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and the thumbnails may be devoid of room numbers.

[0016] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the first aspect, the patient care devices from which the device status originates may include one or more of the following: a patient bed, a heart rate monitor, a respiration rate monitor, a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram (EKG) device, an electroencephalogram (EEG) device, an IV pump (aka an infusion pump), a patient lift, or a hemodialysis machine. The present disclosure contemplates that the nurse call server may receive at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data from an EMR server, an ADT server, and / or some other enterprise server. The present disclosure also contemplates that the nurse call system of the first aspect further may include a portable wireless device that may be carried by a caregiver and the portable wireless device may be operable to display one or more of the tiles corresponding to the patient rooms on a display screen of the portable wireless device. Optionally, the administration computer of the second aspect may be situated at a master nurse station and also may serve as a master nurse station computer that may be operable to establish a voice communication channel to speak with patients located in the patient rooms.

[0017] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a nurse call system may include a nurse call server that may be configured to receive device status data that may originate from patient care devices and patient risk data that may be input by caregivers or that may be calculated based on at least some of the status data. The nurse call system of the second aspect may also include a display that may be coupled to the nurse call server to display at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data. The nurse call server of the second aspect may be operable to command the display to show only a portion of the devicestatus data in a tile format in which tiles that may correspond to a subset of the patient rooms in a unit or ward of a healthcare facility may be displayed horizontally side-by-side on the display. Each tile of the second aspect may have a patient risk zone in which one or more patient risk icons relating to the patient risk data may be displayed. Each tile of the second aspect also may have a device status zone in which one or more device status icons that may relate to the device status data may be displayed. With regard to the tile format, a series of thumbnails that may correspond to the patient rooms in the unit or ward of the healthcare facility may be shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles. A number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails may be greater than a number of the tiles and each thumbnail may be smaller than each tile. The nurse call system of the second aspect also may include an administration computer that may be coupled to the nurse call server and that may be operable to select which device status data has corresponding device status icons shown in at least some of the device status zones of each tile.

[0018] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the second aspect, the display may include a context box that may surround a subset of the thumbnails of the series of thumbnails with the subset of thumbnails surrounded by the context box corresponding to the tiles currently being displayed on the display. Optionally, the context box of the second aspect cycles from surrounding a first subset of thumbnails to surrounding a second subset of thumbnails at a cycling time which may vary depending upon the amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the first subset of thumbnails that may be displayed on the display.

[0019] If desired, each tile of the second aspect may be at least four times larger than each thumbnail. Also if desired, at least four times more thumbnails may be shown on the display than the number of the tiles being shown. Further if desired, the series of thumbnails may be shown on the display beneath the tiles. Optionally, each tile of the second aspect may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, each tile may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and the thumbnails within the context box may be color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile. Further optionally, the thumbnails may be displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display. If desired, a room number may be displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and the thumbnails may be devoid of room numbers.

[0020] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the second aspect, the nurse call server may be operable to display the device status data and the patient risk data on the display in a table format in which room identifiers of patient rooms of a healthcare facility may correspond to rows of a table with the rows extending horizontally in the table with the device status data and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table with each row of the table having fields corresponding to the respective columns. Thus, the present disclosure contemplates that a greater amount of the device status data may be displayed on the display in the table format than in the tile format. The present disclosure further contemplates that the administration computer may be operable to select which device status data may be shown in the columns of the table. Optionally, the display of the second aspect may display a user selectable field that may be selectable to switch between the table format and the tile format.

[0021] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the second aspect, the device status zones of each tile may include a vital signs zone and the status data may include patient vital signs data that may be displayed in the vital signs zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding patient room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount. For example, the vital signs data may include heart rate, a heart icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate, an up arrow may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount. As another example, the vital signs data may include respiration rate, a lungs icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate, an up arrow may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0022] The present disclosure contemplates that the device status zones of each tile of the second aspect further may include a bed status zone and the status data may include bed status data that may be displayed in the bed status zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room. For example, the bed status data may be displayed using bed status icons that may include icons indicating one or more of the following: bed exit system status, a head section of the bed being above a threshold angle, the head section of the be being below the threshold angle, caster brake status, siderail position status, a mattress operating in an alternating pressuremode, the mattress of the hed operating in a lateral rotation mode, and the mattress of the hed operating in a percussion and vibration (P&V) mode. The present disclosure further contemplates that the one or more patient risk icons of the second aspect include one or more of the following: a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient may be a falls risk, a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient may be at risk of developing pressure sores, and a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient may be at risk of developing pulmonary complications.

[0023] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the second aspect, at least a portion of each tile may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data and the at least the portion of each tile may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data. Optionally, each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition is occurring may be displayed so as to be larger than each of the tiles corresponding to patient rooms in which no alert condition may be occurring. Further optionally, an extension field may be appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition may be occurring and the extension field may provide additional information regarding the alert condition. For example, the extension field may be appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile. Still further optionally, if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions may be shown simultaneously in the extension field.

[0024] The present disclosure contemplates that, in connection with the second aspect, the additional information regarding the alert condition may include an alert icon. For example, the alert icon may include one or more of the following: patient out of position icon, patient bed exit icon, a head section icon indicating that the head section of the bed may be below a threshold angle, caster brake icon indicating that one or more of the bed casters may have been unbraked, a bed not low icon indicating that an upper frame of the bed may not be in its lowest position, a mattress error icon indicating that a mattress of the bed may not be operating properly, siderail down icon indicating that one or more bed siderails may not be in their raised positions, a bed disconnection icon indicating a loss of connectivity of the bed to alternating current (AC) power or to the nurse call system, and a bed service icon indicating that at least one component of the bed may require service.

[0025] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the second aspect the device status data may include bed status data and patient vital signs data. Optionally, at least aportion of each tile may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by any of the device status data, the at least the portion of each tile may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data, and the at least the portion of each tile may be displayed in a third color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the vital signs monitor status data.

[0026] The present disclosure contemplates that each tile shown in the tile format of the second aspect may be selectable by a caregiver to navigate to a comprehensive patient data screen that may show more patient data than may be shown in the tile and table formats. For example, the comprehensive patient data screen may display data points for a plurality of previous readings of patient temperature, patient weight, heart rate, and respiration rate for a patient in the patient room corresponding to the selected tile. Alternatively or additionally, the comprehensive patient data screen of the second aspect may display numerical values for one or more of the following patient risk scores: a pressure score, a falls risk score, a mobility score, a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS). Further alternatively or additionally, the comprehensive patient data screen may display a trending graph that may show trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’s heart rate and respiration rate. Still further alternatively or additionally, the comprehensive patient data screen may display the most recent reading for each of the following of the corresponding patient: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, blood pressure, and temperature.

[0027] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the second aspect, the patient care devices from which the device status originates may include one or more of the following: a patient bed, a heart rate monitor, a respiration rate monitor, a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram (EKG) device, an electroencephalogram (EEG) device, an IV pump, a patient lift, or a hemodialysis machine. Optionally, the nurse call server of the second aspect may receive at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data from an EMR server, an ADT server, and / or some other enterprise server. Further optionally, the nurse call system of the second aspect further may include a portable wireless device that may be carried by a caregiver and the portable wireless device may be operable to display one or more of the tiles that may correspond to the patient rooms on a display screen of the portable wireless device. Still further optionally, the administration computer of the second aspect may be situated at a master nurse station and also may serve as amaster nurse station computer that may be operable to establish a voice communication channel to speak with patients located in the patient rooms.

[0028] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a healthcare information system may include a plurality of patient beds that may be located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a plurality of vital signs monitors that may be located in at least some of the rooms, and a nurse call server that may be configured to receive bed status data that may originate from the plurality of patient beds and to receive vital signs data that may originate from the plurality of vital signs monitors. The nurse call server also may receive patient risk data that may be input by caregivers or that may be calculated based on at least some of the vital signs data. The healthcare information system of the third aspect also may include a display that may be coupled to the nurse call server and that may be commanded by the nurse call server to display tiles that may correspond to a subset of the rooms in a unit or ward of a healthcare facility. The tiles of the third aspect may be displayed horizontally side-by-side on the display. Each tile of the third aspect may be configured to display simultaneously one or more bed status icons that may correspond to at least some of the bed status data, one or more vital signs icons that may correspond to at least some of the vital signs data, and one or more patient risk icons that may correspond to at least some of the patient risk data. A number of bed status icons that can be displayed simultaneously may be limited to a threshold number. The healthcare information system of the third aspect also may include an administration computer that may be coupled to the nurse call server and that may be operable to establish a bed status data prioritization to thereby prioritize which bed status icons may take prioritization over other bed status icons for display in the tile for the respective room.

[0029] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the third aspect, the display also may be commanded by the nurse call server to display a series of thumbnails that may correspond to the patient rooms in the unit or ward of the healthcare facility to be shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles. In such embodiments, a number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails may be greater than a number of the tiles and each thumbnail may be smaller than each tile. If desired, the nurse call server may further command the display to show a context box that may surround a subset of the thumbnails of the series of thumbnails such that the subset of thumbnails surrounded by the context box may correspond to the tiles that currently may be displayed on the display. Also if desired, the context box of the third aspect may cycle from surrounding a first subset of thumbnails to surrounding a second subset of thumbnails at a cycling time which may vary depending upon the amount ofinformation being shown in the tiles corresponding to the first subset of thumbnails that may be displayed on the display.

[0030] Optionally, each tile of the third aspect may be at least four times larger than each thumbnail. Further optionally, at least four times more thumbnails may be shown on the display than the number of the tiles that may be shown. Still further optionally, the series of thumbnails are shown on the display beneath the tiles. The present disclosure contemplates that each tile of the third aspect may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the bed status data and the vital signs data, each tile may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data or the vital signs data, and the thumbnails within the context box of the third aspect may be color-coded to match the colorcoding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile. If desired, the thumbnails of the third aspect may be displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display. Also if desired, a room number may be displayed in each tile of the third aspect for the corresponding room and the thumbnails may be devoid of room numbers.

[0031] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the third aspect, the nurse call server may be operable to display the bed status data, the vital signs data, and the patient risk data on the display in a table format in which room identifiers of patient rooms of a healthcare facility may correspond to rows of a table and the rows may extend horizontally in the table with the bed status data, vital signs data, and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table with each row of the table having fields that may correspond to the respective columns. Thus, a greater amount of the bed status data may be displayed on the display of the third aspect in the table than in the tiles. Optionally, the administration computer of the third aspect may be operable to select which bed status data may be shown in the columns of the table. Further optionally, the display of the third aspect may display a user selectable field that may be selectable to switch the display between showing the tiles and showing the table.

[0032] The present disclosure contemplates that the vital signs data of the third aspect may be displayed in the tile of a corresponding room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount. For example, the vital signs data of the third aspect may include heart rate, a heart icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate, an up arrow may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate increases by an amount equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone ifthe heart rate decreases by an amount equal to or greater than the threshold amount. As another example, the vital signs data of the third aspect may include respiration rate, a lungs icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate, an up arrow may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate increases by an amount equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon may be displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate decreases by an amount equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0033] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the third aspect, the bed status icons may indicate one or more of the following: bed exit system status, a head section of the bed being above a threshold angle, the head section of the be being below the threshold angle, caster brake status, siderail position status, a mattress of the bed operating in an alternating pressure mode, the mattress of the bed operating in a lateral rotation mode, and the mattress of the bed operating in a percussion and vibration (P&V) pressure mode. If desired, the one or more patient risk icons of the third aspect may include one or more of the following: a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient may be a falls risk, a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient may be at risk of developing pressure sores, and a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient may be at risk of developing pulmonary complications.

[0034] Optionally, at least a portion of each tile of the third aspect may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the bed status data and the vital signs data and the at least the portion of each tile of the third aspect may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data or the vital signs data. Further optionally, each tile of the third aspect corresponding to a respective room in which an alert condition is occurring may be displayed so as to be larger than each of the tiles corresponding to rooms in which no alert condition is occurring. Still further optionally, an extension field may be appended to each tile corresponding to a room in which an alert condition may be occurring and the extension field may provide additional information regarding the alert condition. For example, the extension field may be appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile. The present disclosure contemplates that if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room in the third aspect, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions may be shown simultaneously in the extension field.

[0035] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the third aspect, the additional information regarding the alert conditions may include an alert icon. For example, the alert icon may include one or more of the following: patient out of position icon, patient bed exit icon, a head section icon indicating that the head section of the bed may be below a threshold angle, caster brake icon indicating that one or more of the bed casters may have been unbraked, a bed not low icon indicating that an upper frame of the bed may not be in its lowest position, a mattress error icon indicating that a mattress of the bed may not be operating properly, siderail down icon indicating that one or more bed siderails may not be in their raised positions, a bed disconnection icon indicating a loss of connectivity of the bed to alternating current (AC) power or to the nurse call system, and a bed service icon indicating that at least one component of the bed may require service.

[0036] The present disclosure contemplates that at least a portion of each tile of the third aspect may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by any of the bed status data and vital signs data, the at least the portion of each tile of the third aspect may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data, and the at least the portion of each tile of the third aspect may be displayed in a third color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the vital signs data. The present disclosure also contemplates that each tile shown on the display of the third aspect may be selectable by a caregiver to navigate to a comprehensive patient data screen that may show more patient data than may be shown in the respective tile.

[0037] If desired, the comprehensive patient data screen of the third aspect may display data points for a plurality of previous readings of patient temperature, patient weight, heart rate, and respiration rate for a patient in the patient room corresponding to the selected tile. Alternatively or additionally, the comprehensive patient data screen of the third aspect may display numerical values for one or more of the following patient risk scores: a pressure score, a falls risk score, a mobility score, a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS). Further alternatively or additionally, the comprehensive patient data screen of the third aspect may display a trending graph that may show trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’s heart rate and respiration rate. Still further alternatively or additionally, the comprehensive patient data screen of the third aspect may display the most recent reading for each of the following of thecorresponding patient: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, blood pressure, and temperature.

[0038] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the third aspect, the vital signs monitor from which the vital signs data originates may include one or more of the following: a heart rate monitor, a respiration rate monitor, a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram (EKG) device, and an electroencephalogram (EEG) device. If desired, the healthcare information system of the third aspect further may include a plurality of IV pumps that may be located in at least some of the rooms and the nurse call server may be operable to display an IV pump icon or IV pump status data in the respective tile of each room having an IV pump. Also if desired, the healthcare information system of the third aspect further may include a plurality of hemodialysis machines that may be located in at least some of the rooms and the nurse call server may be operable to display a hemodialysis icon or hemodialysis status data in the respective tile of each room having a hemodialysis machine.

[0039] Optionally, the nurse call server of the third aspect may receive at least some of the vital signs data and at least some of the patient risk data from an EMR server, an ADT server, and / or some other enterprise server. Further optionally, the healthcare information system of the third aspect further may include a portable wireless device that may be carried by a caregiver and the portable wireless device may be operable to display one or more of the tiles corresponding to the rooms on a display screen of the portable wireless device. Still further optionally, the administration computer of the third aspect may be situated at a master nurse station and also may serve as a master nurse station computer that may be operable to establish a voice communication channel to speak with patients located in the rooms.

[0040] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a healthcare information system may include a plurality of patient beds that may be located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a dashboard server that may be configured to receive bed status data that may originate from the plurality of patient beds, and a display that may be coupled to the dashboard server and that may be commanded by the dashboard server to display at least some of the bed status data in a table with each of the rooms corresponding to a row of the table. The table may include a bed position column in which a first bed position icon may be displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a first configuration and in which a second bed position icon may be displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a second configuration.

[0041] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the fourth aspect, the first configuration may include the associated patient bed being in a chair configuration. Alternatively or additionally, the second configuration may include the associated patient bed being in an exit assist position. Other patient bed configurations may have corresponding bed position icons associated therewith for display in the bed position column.

[0042] If desired, the table of the fourth aspect may include a bed therapy column in which at least one therapy icon may be displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is currently operating in a corresponding therapy mode. For example, the at least one therapy icon may include an alternating pressure icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in an alternating pressure mode. Alternatively or additionally, the at least one therapy icon may include a microclimate management icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a microclimate management therapy mode. Further alternatively or additionally, the at least one therapy icon may include a lateral rotation therapy icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a continuous lateral rotation therapy mode.

[0043] With regard to the healthcare information system of the fourth aspect, during the continuous lateral rotation therapy mode, the lateral rotation therapy icon optionally may change to indicate whether an associated patient is turned to the right, to the left, or is in a flat position between left and right turns. Further optionally, the at least one therapy icon of the fourth aspect may include a turn assist icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a turn assist mode. For example, the turn assist icon may indicate whether the associated patient is turned to the left or to the right. Still further optionally, the at least one therapy icon of the fourth aspect may include a prone icon which may indicate whether the associated patient is in a prone position on the patient bed.

[0044] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the fourth aspect, the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column may include a plurality of therapy icons that may include two icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon. If desired, the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column of the table of the fourth aspect may include a plurality of therapy icons that may include three icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

[0045] Optionally, the table of the fourth aspect further may include a time in mode column which may indicate an amount of time that the associated patient bed has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode. Further optionally, the time in mode column may be adjacent to the bed therapy column. Still further optionally, the table of the fourth aspect further may include a therapy reminder column that may indicate how much time may remain before a currently operating therapy mode is completed. If desired, color-coding may be used in the therapy reminder column to indicate that the time remaining may be less than a threshold amount of time.

[0046] With regard to the healthcare information system of the fourth aspect, the table further may include a patient column that may have patient name information in a HIPAA- compliant format for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’ s identity has been verified by a caregiver and having a non-descript character string for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has not been verified. Optionally, at least some patient beds of the plurality of patient beds may include a graphical user interface (GUT) that may be operable to display one or more inputs which may be usable to verify the associated patient’s identity.

[0047] In some embodiments, the healthcare information system of the fourth aspect further includes a nurse call server that may be in communication with the dashboard server. In other embodiments of the healthcare information system of the fourth aspect, the dashboard server also may operate as a nurse call server of a nurse call system.

[0048] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a healthcare information system may include a plurality of patient beds that may be located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a dashboard server that may be configured to receive bed status data that may originate from the plurality of patient beds, and a display that may be coupled to the dashboard server and that may be commanded by the dashboard server to display at least some of the bed status data in a table with each of the rooms corresponding to a row of the table. The table of the fifth aspect may include a bed therapy column in which at least one therapy icon may be displayed in a corresponding row if the associated bed is currently operating in a corresponding therapy mode.

[0049] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the fifth aspect, the at least one therapy icon may include an alternating pressure icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in an alternating pressure mode. Alternatively or additionally, the at least one therapy icon of the fifth aspect may include a microclimatemanagement icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a microclimate management therapy mode. Further alternatively or additionally, the at least one therapy icon may include a lateral rotation therapy icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a continuous lateral rotation therapy mode. Optionally, during the continuous lateral rotation therapy mode, the lateral rotation therapy icon of the fifth aspect may change to indicate whether an associated patient is turned to the right, to the left, or is in a flat position between left and right turns.

[0050] The present disclosure further contemplates that the at least one therapy icon of the fifth aspect may include a turn assist icon which may indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a turn assist mode. Optionally, the turn assist icon of the fifth aspect may indicate whether the associated patient is turned to the left or to the right. Further optionally, the at least one therapy icon of the fifth aspect may include a prone icon which may indicates whether the associated patient is in a prone position on the patient bed.

[0051] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the fifth aspect, the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column may include a plurality of therapy icons that may include two icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon. If desired, the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column of the table of the fifth aspect may include a plurality of therapy icons that may include three icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

[0052] Optionally, the table of the fifth aspect further may include a time in mode column which may indicate an amount of time that the associated patient bed has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode. Further optionally, the time in mode column may be adjacent to the bed therapy column. Still further optionally, the table of the fifth aspect further may include a therapy reminder column that may indicate how much time may remain before a currently operating therapy mode is completed. If desired, color-coding may be used in the therapy reminder column to indicate that the time remaining may be less than a threshold amount of time.

[0053] With regard to the healthcare information system of the fifth aspect, the table further may include a patient column that may have patient name information in a HIPAA- compliant format for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’ s identity has been verified by a caregiver and having a non-descript character string for a corresponding patientroom if the associated patient’s identity has not been verified. Optionally, at least some patient beds of the plurality of patient beds may include a graphical user interface (GUI) that may be operable to display one or more inputs which may be usable to verify the associated patient’s identity.

[0054] In some embodiments, the healthcare information system of the fifth aspect further includes a nurse call server that may be in communication with the dashboard server. In other embodiments of the healthcare information system of the fifth aspect, the dashboard server also may operate as a nurse call server of a nurse call system.

[0055] If desired, the table of the fifth aspect further may include a bed position column in which a first bed position icon may be displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a first configuration and in which a second bed position icon may be displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a second configuration. For example, the first configuration may include the associated patient bed of the fifth aspect being in one of a chair position and an exit assist position and the second configuration may include the associated patient bed of the fifth aspect being in the other of the chair position and the exit assist position.

[0056] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a healthcare information system may include a plurality of patient beds that may be located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a dashboard server that may be configured to receive bed status data that may originate from the plurality of patient beds, and a display that may be coupled to the dashboard server and that may be commanded by the dashboard server to display at least some of the bed status data in a table with each of the rooms corresponding to a row of the table. The table of the sixth aspect may include a patient column that may have patient name information in a HIPAA-compliant format for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has been verified by a caregiver and that may have a non-descript character string for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’ s identity has not been verified.

[0057] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the sixth aspect, at least some patient beds of the plurality of patient beds may include a graphical user interface (GUI) that may be operable to display one or more inputs which may be usable to verify the associated patient’s identity. Optionally, the non-descript character string may include one or more of the following: asterisks, question marks, ellipses, dashes, the word “unknown,” the words “Verify patient,” or a triangle symbol.

[0058] If desired, the table of the sixth aspect further may include a bed position column in which a first bed position icon may be displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a first configuration and in which a second bed position icon may be displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a second configuration. For example, the first configuration may include the associated patient bed of the sixth aspect being in one of a chair position and an exit assist position and the second configuration may include the associated patient bed of the sixth aspect being in the other of the chair position and the exit assist position.

[0059] Optionally, the table of the sixth aspect may include a bed therapy column in which at least one therapy icon may be displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is currently operating in a corresponding therapy mode. For example, the at least one therapy icon of the sixth aspect may include an alternating pressure icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in an alternating pressure mode. Alternatively or additionally, the at least one therapy icon of the sixth aspect may include a microclimate management icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a microclimate management therapy mode. Further alternatively or additionally, the at least one therapy icon of the sixth aspect may include a lateral rotation therapy icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a continuous lateral rotation therapy mode.

[0060] With regard to the healthcare information system of the sixth aspect, during the continuous lateral rotation therapy mode, the lateral rotation therapy icon optionally may change to indicate whether an associated patient is turned to the right, to the left, or is in a flat position between left and right turns. Further optionally, the at least one therapy icon of the sixth aspect may include a turn assist icon which may indicate that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a turn assist mode. For example, the turn assist icon may indicate whether the associated patient is turned to the left or to the right. Still further optionally, the at least one therapy icon of the sixth aspect may include a prone icon which may indicate whether the associated patient is in a prone position on the patient bed.

[0061] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the sixth aspect, the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column may include a plurality of therapy icons that may include two icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon. If desired, the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy columnof the table of the sixth aspect may include a plurality of therapy icons that may include three icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

[0062] Optionally, the table of the sixth aspect further may include a time in mode column which may indicate an amount of time that the associated patient bed has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode. Further optionally, the time in mode column of the sixth aspect may be adjacent to the bed therapy column. Still further optionally, the table of the sixth aspect further may include a therapy reminder column that may indicate how much time may remain before a currently operating therapy mode is completed. If desired, colorcoding may be used in the therapy reminder column of the sixth aspect to indicate that the time remaining may be less than a threshold amount of time.

[0063] In some embodiments, the healthcare information system of the sixth aspect further includes a nurse call server that may be in communication with the dashboard server. In other embodiments of the healthcare information system of the fifth aspect, the dashboard server also may operate as a nurse call server of a nurse call system.

[0064] Referring once again to the nurse call system of the first and second aspects, in the tile format, a series of thumbnails corresponding to the patient rooms in a plurality of units or wards of the healthcare facility may be shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles. A number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails may be greater than a number of the tiles and each thumbnail may be smaller than each tile. In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the first and second aspects, the display may include a progress bar that may fill in above a subset of thumbnails of the series of thumbnails over a predetermined time period during which the tiles that are currently being displayed on the display and that correspond to the subset of thumbnails may remain displayed.

[0065] Optionally, with regard to the nurse call system of the first and second aspects, the predetermined time period may correspond to a length of time that the tiles currently being displayed may remain on the display before a second subset of tiles may replace the tiles currently being displayed. Further optionally, the predetermined time period may vary depending upon an amount of information that may be shown in the tiles corresponding to the subset of thumbnails that may be displayed on the display. Still further optionally, the tiles may be displayed in a two-row format with each row having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails are shown on the display. Alternatively, the tiles may be displayed in a single-row format having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails may be shown on the display of the first or second aspect.

[0066] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the first and second aspects, at least a portion of each tile may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data. Further, the at least the portion of each tile may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data. In such embodiments, the thumbnails may be color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile. If desired, the thumbnails may be displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display of the first or second aspect. Also if desired, a room number may be displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and the room number of a respective room may be displayed within the corresponding thumbnail only for those rooms in which an alert condition is occurring.

[0067] With continued reference to the first and second aspect, the nurse call system further may include at least one patient bed that may have a vital signs sensor that may be supported thereon and the vital signs data displayed in the vital signs zone may be sensed by the vital signs sensor. Optionally, a vital signs error icon may be displayed in each tile or in an extension field that may be appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which the vital signs sensor may be disabled from operation. For example, the vital signs sensor may be disabled from operation due to expiration of a useful life of the vital signs sensor. If desired, the useful life of the vital signs sensor may be tracked by circuitry of the patient bed or by a computer that may be located remotely from the patient bed. Alternatively or additionally, the vital signs sensor may be disabled from operation due to expiration or termination of a license to use the vital signs sensor. In such embodiments, the nurse call system of the first or second aspect further may include a remote computer to monitor whether the license to use the corresponding vital signs sensor may be expired or unexpired. Optionally, the extension field of the tiles of the first or second aspect may be appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile. Further optionally, the vital signs sensor of the first or second aspect may be supported on a mattress support deck of the patient bed beneath a mattress of the patient bed.

[0068] In some embodiments of the nurse call system of the first and second aspects, the bed status data displayed in the tile format may include one or more icons that may be indicative of a bed exit / patient position monitoring (PPM) alarm that may be occurring as detected by a bed exit / PPM system of a corresponding patient bed. In such embodiments, thebed exit / PPM system may be configured to be armed in a plurality of different modes of sensitivity depending upon how much movement toward exiting the patient bed may be required before the bed exit / PPM alarm may be generated. Optionally, if the bed exit / PPM system is armed in a first mode that may have greater sensitivity than a second mode, a first bed exit / PPM icon may appear in the respective tile corresponding to a first amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed and the first bed exit / PPM icon may change to a second bed exit / PPM icon that may correspond to a second amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed. The second amount of movement may be greater than the first amount of movement. If desired, the first and second bed exit / PPM icons also may be displayed in the table when the display of the first or second aspect is operating in the table format.

[0069] If desired, the plurality of different modes of sensitivity of the first or second aspect may include a third mode and the second bed exit / PPM icon may change to a third bed exit / PPM icon that may correspond to a third amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed. The third amount of movement may be greater than the second amount of movement. For example, the first mode may be a patient movement mode in which the first bed exit / PPM icon may represent the patient sitting up in bed, the second mode may be an edge mode in which the second bed exit / PPM icon may represent the patient sitting at an edge of the bed, and the third mode may be a bed exit mode in which the third bed exit / PPM icon may represent the patient standing up next to the bed. If desired, the first, second, and third bed exit / PPM icons also may be displayed in the table when the display of the first or second aspect is operating in the table format.

[0070] Referring once again to the healthcare information system of the third aspect, the display may include a progress bar that may fill in above a subset of thumbnails of the series of thumbnails over a predetermined time period during which the tiles that are currently being displayed on the display and that correspond to the subset of thumbnails may remain displayed. Optionally, the predetermined time period may correspond to a length of time that the tiles currently being displayed may remain on the display before a second subset of tiles may replace the tiles currently being displayed. Further optionally, the predetermined time period may vary depending upon an amount of information that may be shown in the tiles corresponding to the subset of thumbnails that may be displayed on the display. Still further optionally, the tiles may be displayed in a two-row format with each row having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails may be shown on the display. Alternatively, the tiles may be displayed in asingle-row format having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4 thumbnails may be shown on the display of the third aspect.

[0071] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the third aspect, at least a portion of each tile may be displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data. Further, the at least the portion of each tile may be displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data. In such embodiments, the thumbnails may be color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile. If desired, the thumbnails may be displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display of the third aspect. Also if desired, a room number may be displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and the room number of a respective room may be displayed within the corresponding thumbnail only for those rooms in which an alert condition is occurring.

[0072] With continued reference to the healthcare information system of the third aspect, one or more patient beds of the plurality of patient beds may include a vital signs sensor that may be supported thereon and the vital signs data displayed on the display may be sensed by the vital signs sensor of the one or more patient beds. Optionally, a vital signs error icon may be displayed in each tile or in an extension field that may be appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which the vital signs sensor of the one or more patient beds may be disabled from operation. For example, the vital signs sensor of the third aspect may be disabled from operation due to expiration of a useful life of the vital signs sensor. If desired, the useful life of the vital signs sensor may be tracked by circuitry of the patient bed or by a computer that may be located remotely from the patient bed. Alternatively or additionally, the vital signs sensor of the third aspect may be disabled from operation due to expiration or termination of a license to use the vital signs sensor. In such embodiments, the healthcare information system of the third aspect further may include a remote computer to monitor whether the license to use the corresponding vital signs sensor may be expired or unexpired. Optionally, the extension field of the tiles of the third aspect may be appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile. Further optionally, the vital signs sensor of the third aspect may be supported on a mattress support deck of the patient bed beneath a mattress of the patient bed.

[0073] In some embodiments of the healthcare information system of the third asepct, the bed status data displayed in the tile format may include one or more icons that may be indicative of a bed exit / patient position monitoring (PPM) alarm that may be occurring asdetected by a bed exit / PPM system of a corresponding patient bed. In such embodiments, the bed exit / PPM system may be configured to be armed in a plurality of different modes of sensitivity depending upon how much movement toward exiting the patient bed may be required before the bed exit / PPM alarm may be generated. Optionally, if the bed exit / PPM system of the third aspect is armed in a first mode that may have greater sensitivity than a second mode, a first bed exit / PPM icon may appear in the respective tile corresponding to a first amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed and the first bed exit / PPM icon may change to a second bed exit / PPM icon corresponding to a second amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed. The second amount of movement may be greater than the first amount of movement. If desired, the first and second bed exit / PPM icons also may be displayed in a table when the display of the third aspect is operating in a table format.

[0074] If desired, the plurality of different modes of sensitivity of the third aspect may include a third mode and the second bed exit / PPM icon may change to a third bed exit / PPM icon that may correspond to a third amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed. The third amount of movement may be greater than the second amount of movement. For example, the first mode may be a patient movement mode in which the first bed exit / PPM icon may represent the patient sitting up in bed, the second mode may be an edge mode in which the second bed exit / PPM icon may represent the patient sitting at an edge of the bed, and the third mode may be a bed exit mode in which the third bed exit / PPM icon may represent the patient standing up next to the bed. If desired, the first, second, and third bed exit / PPM icons also may be displayed in a table when the display of the third aspect is operating in a table format.

[0075] Additional features, which alone or in combination with any other feature(s), such as those listed above, 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.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0076] The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figures, in which:

[0077] Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a healthcare information system having a network of a healthcare facility including a nurse call system that receives status data from a plurality ofbeds and from a plurality of patient monitors and other patient care devices and that displays the status data on a status board display;

[0078] Fig. 2 is a block diagram, similar to Fig. 1, but showing a cloud-based digital health gateway of a third party interfacing with the healthcare information system;

[0079] Fig. 3 is an example of a first screen shot of status data shown on the status board display in a tile format, the first screen shot having tiles for seven patient rooms in a horizontal single row in an upper region of the display and showing a series of twenty eight thumbnails in a horizontal single row in a lower region of the display, a context box surrounding a first group of seven of the thumbnails corresponding to the tiles of the seven patient rooms being shown in the top region, each tile including one or more icons representative of corresponding status data and some tiles having patient risk icons displayed in an upper left corner region, and two of the tiles corresponding to rooms in which alert conditions are occurring having extension fields appended at their bottoms to provide additional information about the respective alert conditions;

[0080] Fig. 4 is an example of a second screen shot of status data shown on the status board in the tile format, similar to Fig. 3, but showing a second set of seven tiles displayed in the upper region of the display and showing the context box advanced to a second group of the thumbnails corresponding to the tiles of the second set of seven tiles;

[0081] Fig. 5 is an example of a third screen shot of status data shown on the status board in the tile format, similar to Figs. 3 and 4, but showing a third set of seven tiles displayed in the upper region of the display and showing the context box advanced to a third group of the thumbnails corresponding to the tiles of the third set of seven tiles;

[0082] Fig. 6 is an example of a fourth screen shot of status data shown on the status board in the tile format, similar to Figs. 3-5, but showing a fourth set of seven tiles displayed in the upper region of the display and showing the context box advanced to a fourth group of the thumbnails corresponding to the tiles of the fourth set of seven tiles;

[0083] Fig. 7 is an example of a fifth screen shot of status data shown on the status board in tile format, similar to Figs. 3-6, but showing tiles for semi-private rooms having two beds and corresponding patients per room;

[0084] Fig. 8 is an example of a screen shot of a comprehensive patient data screen that appears on the display of the status board in response to selection of a corresponding tile on the preceding screen, which in the given example is the tile for room 205 appearing on the first screen shot of Fig. 3;

[0085] Fig. 9 is an example of an alternative screen shot of the status board display in the tile format in which three horizontal rows of eight tiles are displayed and the thumbnails are absent;

[0086] Fig. 10 is a first example of a screen shot in which a comprehensive patient data window appears on the display of the status board in response to selection of a corresponding tile on the preceding screen of Fig. 9, which in the given example is the tile for room 305 W;

[0087] Fig. 11 is a second example of a screen shot in which a comprehensive patient data window appears on the display of the status board in response to selection of a corresponding tile on the screen of Fig. 9, which in the given example is the tile for room 301 W;

[0088] Fig. 12 is an example of a screen shot of the status data shown on the status board display in a table format having room identifiers of patient rooms of the healthcare facility corresponding to rows of a table with the rows extending horizontally in the table with the device status data and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table with each row of the table having fields corresponding to the respective columns, a greater amount of the device status data being displayed on the status board display in the table format than in the tile format, and a user input being provided on the status board display to switch between the table format and the tile format;

[0089] Fig. 13 is an example of a screen shot of the status board display, similar to Fig. 12, but including a Bed Position column having bed position icons indicating a position of a corresponding bed, a Therapy Mode column having therapy icons indicating statuses of one or more therapies that are operating on the corresponding bed, a Time in Mode column indicating how long the one or more therapies of the corresponding bed have been operating, and a Reminder column indicating how much time is left before a therapy is to be implemented on the corresponding bed;

[0090] Fig. 14 is a table providing information about various bed position icons and therapy mode icons that may appear on the status board display of Fig. 13;

[0091] Fig. 15 is an example of a portion of a screen shot of an alternative status board display showing a Patient column having patient name information in a HIPAA-compliant format for a corresponding room when a patient’s identity has been verified by a caregiver and showing examples of character strings in the Patient column that appear for corresponding rooms if a patient’s identity has not been verified, and also showing a Notes column adjacent the Patient column having notes pertaining to the corresponding patient;

[0092] Fig. 16 is a block diagram depicting a rudimentary system applicable to both onpremises and cloud-based systems having dashboard displays;

[0093] Fig. 17 is a screen shot showing examples of tiles having icons relating to status of bed exit / patient position monitoring (PPM) systems of respective beds in a set of corresponding patient rooms;

[0094] Fig. 18 is a screen shot showing examples of tiles having icons relating to status of contact free continuous monitoring (CFCM) systems of respective beds in a set of corresponding patient rooms;

[0095] Fig. 19 is a screen shot showing examples of various alerts that appear in drop down drawers that extend from the bottom regions of the respective tiles;

[0096] Fig. 20 is an example of a screen shot of status data shown on the status board display in a tile format, the screen shot showing a single-row of tiles for seven patient rooms in a horizontal single row in an upper region of the display, showing a series of thumbnails in a horizontal single row in a lower region of the display with five unit names above the thumbnails, and showing a progress bar indicating an amount of time that has elapsed for viewing the tiles corresponding to one of the units and indicating how much time remains before the displayed tiles advance to a set of tiles corresponding to the next unit; and

[0097] Fig. 21 is an example of a screen shot, similar to Fig. 20, but showing a doublerow of tiles for fourteen patient rooms in a pair of horizontal rows and showing a progress bar spanning across two units of thumbnails to indicate an amount of time that has elapsed for viewing the tiles corresponding to the two units and indicating how much time remains before the displayed tiles advance to a set of tiles corresponding to the next two units.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0098] A healthcare information system 10 of a healthcare facility includes a network 12 of interconnected devices and systems as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1. Illustrative network 12 includes a nurse call system 14, an electronic medical record (EMR) system 16, an admission / discharge / transfer (ADT) system 18, a real time locating system (RTLS) 20, and a communication system 22. Network 12 of system 10 also includes a plurality of patient beds 24 and a plurality of patient monitors and other patient care devices 26. Each patient room of the healthcare facility includes a respective bed 24 and may or may not include addition patient monitors / devices 26. Beds 24 communicate various types of bed data, including bed identification (ID) data and bed status data, to nurse call system 14 as will be described infurther detail below. Patient monitors and other care devices 26 communicate device data, including device ID data and device status data, to EMR system 16 as will also be described in further detail below.

[0099] Nurse call system 14 includes a plurality of wired and / or wireless bed connector units 28 that communicate with each of beds 24 over a respective wired or wireless datalink 30. For example, each datalink 30 includes a 37-pin cable in some embodiments that plugs into a nurse call port of the respective bed 24 and a nurse call port of the respective unit 28. In such wired arrangements, units 28 may include bed interface units (BIU’s), network interface units (NIU’s), or audio station bed connectors (ASBC’s) available from Hill-Rom Company, Inc. of Batesville, Indiana as part of the VOALTE® nurse call system (formerly, the NAVICARE® nurse call system). In other embodiments, some or all of datalinks 30 between beds 24 and units 30 include a wireless Bluetooth (BT) link of the type that is formed between CENTRELLA® Smart-i- beds and READYCONNECT™ units, both of which are also available from Hill-Rom Company, Inc.

[0100] Additional details of BIU’s and NIU’s, and nurse call systems in general, are provided in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,561,412; 5,838,223; 7,319,386; 7,538,659; 8,046,625;8,169,304; 8,384,526; 8,598,995; and 8,779,924, each of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure which shall control as to any inconsistencies. For additional details of various wireless bed connector units 28 that communicate over wireless BT links, see U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2022 / 0233382 and 2022 / 0313515, each of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure which shall control as to any inconsistencies.

[0101] Although, beds 24 of Fig. 1 were mentioned above as potentially including CENTRELLA® Smart-i- beds available from Hill-Rom Company, Inc., it is contemplated by this disclosure that beds 24 of other types, including those available from other bed manufacturers, and having other configurations can be used in system 10. Furthermore, the principles of the present disclosure are applicable to patient support apparatus other than beds, including surgical tables, examination tables, imaging tables, stretchers, chairs, wheelchairs, patient lifts, and the like. In any event, further features and aspects of the CENTRELLA® Smart-i- bed are provided in more detail in U.S. Patent No. 10,517,784 which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure which shall control as to any inconsistencies.

[0102] Still referring to Fig. 1 , nurse call system 14 further includes input / output circuit boards 32 (aka I / O boards 32) that communicate with bed connector units 28 over respective datalinks 34 which are typically wired (e.g., physical) datalinks such as Ethernet cables, twisted pair wires, fiber optic cables, and the like. However, it is within the scope of the present disclosure for datalinks 34 to be wireless datalinks. Illustrative nurse call system 14 further includes room stations 36 and indicator lights 38 (aka dome lights 38) that communicate with I / O boards 32 via respective datalinks 40, 42 which are typically wired datalinks but wireless datalinks 40, 42 are also within the scope of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, room stations 36 are embodied as graphical room stations (GRS’s) having touchscreen displays or are embodied as standard room stations (SRS’s) having manual input buttons (e.g., membrane switch buttons) of the type included in the VOALTE® nurse call system mentioned previously. For additional details of a nurse call system having graphical room stations, see U.S. Patent Nos. 8,169,304 and 8,598,995 which are already incorporated by reference herein.

[0103] Dome lights 38 are mounted adjacent to doors of patient rooms in hallways of healthcare facility so that caregivers in the hallways are able to determine the status of events occurring in, or associated with, the respective patient room. For example, if a nurse or other caregiver is determined to be located within a patient room by RTLS 20, then an “N” light is illuminated on the dome light. If a nurse or caregiver is needed in the room, then the “N” light flashes in some embodiments. If there are two beds 24 within a semi-private room, then an “A” light or a “B” light (alternatively, a “1” light or a “2” light) is illuminated to indicate an alert condition is occurring in connection with the respective bed 24 of the pair of beds 24 in the room. Priority alerts result in a flashing A or B light, or 1 or 2 light, as the case may be, until the call associated with the alert condition is rectified (e.g., a self-clearing alert) or canceled by a caregiver. Otherwise, for normal calls, the A or B lights (or 1 or 2 lights) are illuminated continuously until the call associated with the alert condition is rectified (e.g., a self-clearing alert) or canceled by a caregiver.

[0104] Some dome lights 38 also have a triangle-shaped light that flashes to indicate a code blue alert (i.e., a patient going into cardiac arrest) or a staff emergency. For example, the triangle light flashes quickly (e.g., about twice per second) with regard to a code blue alert and flashes slowly (e.g., about once per second) with regard to a staff emergency alert. The triangle light may flash simultaneously with the A or B light (or 1 or 2 light) under some circumstances. The present disclosure contemplates that alert conditions in patient monitors or devices 26 will result in similar illumination of dome lights 38 as was just described for bed alerts. In otherembodiments, dome lights 38 have specific lights for particular alerts or statuses occurring in connection with associated pieces of equipment. For example, alerts pertaining to a patient’s vital signs or alerts pertaining to intravenous (IV) pumps (aka infusion pumps) may have their own illuminated zones on dome lights 38 in addition to those described above according to the present disclosure. In this regard in connection with IV pumps, see U.S. Application No. 18 / 983,762, filed December 17, 2024, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure which shall control as to any inconsistencies.

[0105] With continued reference to Fig. 1, nurse call system 14 further includes a nurse call server 44 in communication with VO boards 32 over respective datalinks 46 each of which typically is a wired datalink 46 but can be a wireless datalink 46 in accordance with the present disclosure. A “server” according to the present disclosure is a computer having hardware and / or software resources that are shared by other computers, which themselves are devices having computer integrated circuit chips that include microprocessors, microcontrollers, central processing units (CPU’s), or the like that are able to execute software stored in memory included in the same integrated circuit chip or in other separate memory chips (e.g., RAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM chips, or the like) which may be static or dynamic memory including flash memory.

[0106] Nurse call server 44 receives bed status data, including bed ID data, from the various beds 24 coupled to the nurse call system 14. As described above, the data from beds 24 is routed to nurse call server 44 via respective bed connector units 28 and I / O boards 32 in the illustrative example. Examples of the types of bed status data transmitted to server 44 from beds 24 includes, but is not limited to, caster brake data indicating whether casters of the bed are braked or unbraked (aka released); data indicating whether a bed exit / patient position monitoring (PPM) system is armed or disarmed and, if armed, whether a bed exit / PPM alert is occurring; bed height data indicating whether an upper frame of the respective bed 24 is in a lowered position relative to a base frame of the respective bed 24; siderail position data indicating whether each siderail of the bed 24 is in a raised (aka up) position or in a lowered (aka down) position; a head-of-bed (HOB) angle indicating an angle at which a head section (sometimes referred to as a torso section or a back section) of a mattress support deck is raised relative to the upper frame or relative to horizontal; a patient weight (in pounds or kilograms) as measured by load cells of a weigh scale system of the respective bed 24; data indicating that service is needed for a component of the respective bed 24 and, in some embodiments, a servicecode to indicate the type of service needed; data indicating that an error of a component has occurred and, in some embodiments, an error code to indicate the type of error that has occurred; and the bed ID data which, in some embodiments, includes a bed serial number and a bed model number. It is known in the art that the load cells of the weigh scale system of some beds 24 are also used to determine bed exit and patient position on the respective bed 24.

[0107] In some embodiments, beds 24 include integrated patient monitors with sensors to sense patient vital signs data such as heart rate (HR) and / or respiration rate (RR). For example, the CENTRELLA® Smart+ bed, mentioned above, is available with an EARLYSENSE® sensor option in which a strain gage sensor is situated between a mattress of the bed and the head section of the mattress support deck to sense the corresponding patient’s heart rate and respiration rate. In such embodiments, therefore, the HR and RR data is considered among the bed status data transmitted by bed 24 to nurse call server 44. Moreover, the circuitry of beds 24, in some embodiments, is configured to process the HR and RR data to determine whether HR and RR alert conditions are detected, in which case the corresponding HR alert data and RR alert data is also considered to be among the bed status data transmitted from the respective bed 24 to server 44. The present disclosure contemplates that beds 24 may include integrated patient monitors of other types including pulse oximeters, thermometers, and / or blood pressure monitoring devices, such that status data and alert data transmitted from beds 24 having these types of integrated patient monitors to server 44 is also considered to be among the bed status data.

[0108] With continued reference to Fig. 1, nurse call system 14 includes master nurse stations 48, status boards 50, and staff stations 52 which are communicatively coupled to nurse call server 44 via respective datalinks 54, 56, 58. As was the case for datalinks 30, 34, 40, 42, 46, one or more of datalinks 54, 56, 58 are wired datalinks in some embodiments and are wireless datalinks in some embodiments, at the discretion of the designer of system 10. In this regard, wireless communications over wireless datalinks 30, 34, 40, 42, 46, 54, 56, 58 can include radio frequency (RF) communications (e.g., BT communications, Wi-Fi communications, and / or ultra wideband (UWB) communications) having frequencies in the range from about 3 kilohertz (kHz) to about 300 gigahertz (GHz) depending upon the frequency band licensed for such communications, infrared (IR) communications, and / or ultrasound communications.

[0109] The present disclosure is primarily focused on the manner in which data originating from beds 24 and patient monitors and other devices 26 is displayed on statusboards 50. However, this same data is also available to be displayed on the corresponding displays of master nurse stations 48 and staff stations 52. Master nurse stations 48 are sometimes referred to herein as master nurse station computers 48 or just computers 48. In general, each master nurse station 48 is located at a master nurse station of a particular unit or ward of the healthcare facility and is used by a nurse or other caregiver at the master nurse station to monitor and manage incoming calls including normal calls, priority calls, and nurse calls placed by patients using nurse call buttons provided on beds 24 or pillow speaker units coupled to nurse call system 14. Staff stations 52 are typically located outside of patient rooms at other locations in the healthcare facility such as hallways, break rooms, and the like so that information (e.g., data) regarding incoming calls can be viewed by caregivers without the need to walk to the master nurse station.

[0110] Master nurse stations 48 typically include a telephone handset that permits the caregiver at the master station to speak with patients in the various patient rooms via a speaker and microphone included in the respective room station 36 of the respective room. Mater nurse stations 48 also typically include keyboards that are used for data entry, staff assignments, and other administration purposes such as to configure the type of data to be displayed on the respective status board 50, to format the manner in which the available data is displayed on the respective status board 50, and to establish a data display prioritization for the respective status board 50. In some embodiments, one or more other computers are coupled to nurse all server 44 and are used for data entry, staff assignments, and / or status board administration in addition to, or in lieu of, master nurse station computers 48.

[0111] EMR system 16 includes an EMR server 60 and one or more EMR computers or terminals 62 that are coupled to EMR server 60 via respective wired or wireless datalinks 62 of the type discussed hereinabove. Some or all of patient monitors / devices 26 are communicatively coupled to EMR server 60 via respective wired or wireless datalinks 66 to thereby send patient vital signs data, other similar physiological parameter data, and device status data to EMR server 60 on an ongoing or periodic basis. EMR server 60 may send query messages to monitors / devices 26 to obtain such data. Alternatively or additionally, vital signs data, device status data, physiological parameter data, and the like may be entered by caregivers manually using any of EMR computers / terminals 62 as indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 1 by double headed dashed arrow 68. EMR server 60 of EMR system 16 is communicatively coupled to nurse call server 44 of nurse call system 14 via a wired or wireless datalink 70.Thus, some or all of the data received by EMR server from monitors / devices 26 via datalink 66,or via datalink 64 if entered manually on one or computers / terminals 62, is communicated to nurse call server 44 via datalink 70. Similarly, some or all of the data received by nurse call server 44 from beds 24 is communicated to EMR server 60 via datalink 70.

[0112] Patient monitors / devices 26 include, for example, heart rate (HR) monitors, respiration rate (RR) monitors, pulse oximeters for measuring blood oxygenation percentages (aka SpO2), thermometers to measure patient temperature, blood pressure devices, electrocardiogram (EKG) devices, electroencephalogram (EEG) devices, IV pumps, hemodialysis machines, and patient lifts, just to name a few. The present disclosure contemplates that data from all of such devices used with patients in the healthcare facility having healthcare information system 10 are available for viewing on the displays (aka display screens) of master nurse stations 48, staff stations 52, and status boards 50, as well as on displays of EMR computers / terminals 62 in some embodiments.

[0113] ADT system 18 includes an ADT server 72 and one or more ADT computers or terminals 74 that are coupled to ADT server 72 via respective wired or wireless datalinks 76 of the type discussed hereinabove as shown in Fig. 1. ADT computers / terminals 74 are used by caregivers or other hospital staff to enter information relating to patient admission, discharge, and transfer with respect to the healthcare facility. Computers / terminals 74 also are used to enter patient room assignments to indicate the room numbers or ID’s of the particular rooms to which corresponding patients are assigned. Computers / terminals 74 also are used, in some embodiments, to indicate the device ID’s of equipment, such as one or more of patient monitors / devices 26 and / or beds 24, that are assigned to particular patients or to particular rooms. Such patient-to-room and device-to-room, or device-to-patient, assignments are transmitted from ADT server 72 to nurse call server 44 via a wired or wireless datalink 78 and / or are transmitted to EMR server 60 via a wired or wireless datalink 80.

[0114] With continued reference to Fig. 1, illustrative RTLS 20 includes badges or tags 82 that are coupled to equipment, such as beds 24 and / or monitors / devices 26, and people, such as caregivers and / or patients, to track the whereabouts of these assets within the healthcare facility. RTLS 20 further includes receivers or transmitters 84 that communicate with badges / tags 82 via wireless datalinks 86, typically using RF communications, including UWB communications, and / or IR communications, but this is not to rule out the possibility of using ultrasound communications if desired.

[0115] Illustrative RTLS 20 further includes one or more hubs 88 which communicate with receivers / transceivers 84 via respective wired or wireless datalinks 90. In otherembodiments, hubs 90 are omitted depending upon the number of receivers / transceivers 84 being used within a given unit or ward of the healthcare facility. RTLS 20 also includes an RTLS server 92 that ultimately receives the locating data from badges / tags 82 and receivers / transceivers 84 to determine the locations of badges / tags 82. In the illustrative embodiment, RTLS server 92 communicates with one or more hubs via respective wired or wireless datalinks 94. In embodiments of RTLS 20 in which hubs 88 are absent, RTLS server 92 communicates with receivers / transceivers 84 via respective wired or wireless datalinks. RTLS server 92 is also coupled to nurse call server 44 via a wired or wireless datalink 96 and to ADT server 72 via a wired or wireless datalink 98. ADT server 98, therefore, receives locating data from RTLS server 92 and can compare the actual location of equipment, as determined by RTLS system 20, with the expected location of the equipment as entered into ADT system 18 to determine if any discrepancies exist. Notifications to caregivers or other staff members can be given by ADT system 18 if any such discrepancies are detected. Nurse call system 14 uses locating data from RTLS 20 in connection with controlling information and data shown on the displays of master nurse stations 48, staff stations 52, and status boards 50.

[0116] In some embodiments, RTLS 20 is embodied as the HILLROM™ Precision Locating (HPL) system available from Hill-Rom Company, Inc. of Batesville, Indiana. The HPL system 20 uses UWB communications to track badge / tag 82 locations and provides near real-time, x-y coordinate locating data for staff and equipment in the healthcare facility and also provides location and status of the HPL badges / tags 82 including button press events such as staff duress calling. In some embodiments of the RTLS 20, such as the HPL system just mentioned, the locations of the badges / tags 82 are viewable in a software map and can be directly integrated into nurse call system 14 and other third-party applications (e.g., EMR system 16 and / or ADT system 18) via an open application interface (API). The RTLS map, therefore, can be shown on the displays of master stations 48, staff stations 52, status boards 50, EMR computers / terminals 62, ADT computers / terminals 74, and the displays of other devices (e.g., mobile devices and other computers) at the discretion of the designer of system 10. Additional details of RTLS 20, including the HPL system, can be found in U.S. Patent Nos. 11,289,194; 11,317,246; 11,152,111; 11,309,084; 11,574,733; and 11,699,517, each of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure which shall control as to any inconsistencies.

[0117] As further shown in Fig. 1, communication system 22 includes one or more communication servers 100, one or more digital branch exchanges (DXP’s) 102 coupled torespective communication servers 100 via corresponding wired datalinks 104, and a plurality of phones 106 each or which is coupled to a respective DXP 102 via a corresponding wired datalink 108. Illustrative communication system 22 further includes a plurality of wireless access points (WAP’s) 110 that are coupled to respective communication servers 100 via corresponding wired datalinks 112 and a plurality of mobile devices 114 (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, wireless handsets, pagers, and the like) that communicate bidirectionally with WAP’s 110 via wireless datalinks 116.

[0118] In the illustrative embodiment, the one or more communication servers 100 are communicatively coupled to EMR server 60 via a respective wired or wireless datalink 118 and are communicatively coupled to nurse call server 44 via a respective wired or wireless datalink 120. As a result, data available in nurse call system 14 and / or EMR system 16 is viewable on the display screens of mobile devices 114. Furthermore, data available in ADT system 18 and / or RTLS 20 is also viewable on the displays of mobile devices 114, in some embodiments, via communication paths routed through nurse call system 14 and / or EMR system 16. In other embodiments, wired or wireless datalinks between ADT server 72 and communication server 100 and / or between RTLS server 92 and communication server 100 are provided in system 100 at the discretion of the system designer.

[0119] The datalinks disclosed herein are represented diagrammatically by doubled headed arrows in Fig. 1 to imply two-way or bidirectional communication between the respective devices. Furthermore, the double headed arrows are intended to represent additional network infrastructure that may be used to communicatively interconnect the respective devices. Such network infrastructure includes, for example, network switches, gateways, routers, wireless access points (WAP’s), transmitters, receivers, transceivers, communication hubs, and the like, as well as any associated wires, cables, connectors, or other conductors that interconnect the devices of network 12 of system 10. One-way or unidirectional datalinks may be used in addition to, or in lieu of, the illustrative bidirectional datalinks in some embodiments of system 10, at the discretion of the system designer.

[0120] Referring now to Fig. 2, another block diagram of system 10 is provided in which a cloud-based digital health gateway system 130 of one or more third parties interfaces with network 12 of system 10. In some embodiments gateway system 130 is the BAXTER® Digital Health Gateway operated by Baxter International, Inc. of Deerfield, Illinois, USA. In Fig. 2, a portion of network 12 is shown to the right of digital health gateway system 130 and a portion of network 12 is shown to the left of digital health gateway system 130. The portions ofnetwork 12 described above in connection with Fig. 1 are denoted by like reference numbers in Fig. 2 and, for the most part, the descriptions of such portions are not repeated. As indicated by text in Fig. 2, bed 24 in the lower right comer is labeled as a wired bed and bed 24 in the upper left corner is labeled as a wireless bed. A double asterisked note in Fig. 2 for each of the two depicted beds 24 states that, “Beds can use a wireless and wired connection simultaneously.”

[0121] As further shown in the illustrative example of Fig. 2, patient monitors 26 of system 10 include a pair of CONNEX® Vital Signs Monitors (CVSM’s) 132 which are available from Welch Allyn, Inc. of Skaneateles Falls, New York and a pair of CONNEX® Spot Monitors (CSM’s) 134 which are also available from Welch Allyn, Inc. One CVSM 132 operates according to software version 2.43 or higher and the other CVSM 132 operates according to an older version of software that is lower than the version 2.43 software.Similarly, one CSM 134 operates according to software version 1.52 or higher and the other CSM 132 operates according to an older version of software that is lower than the version 1.52 software.

[0122] A CONNEX® Central Station (CS) server 136 and a CONNEX® CS workstation 138 are also depicted in system 10 of Fig. 2 for communication with, and control of, one or more of CVSM’s 132 and CSM’s 134. A service monitor system 140 having PARTNERCONNECT™ software available from Welch Allyn, Inc. is also communicatively coupled to one or more of CVSM’s 132 and CSM’s 134 for receiving service data from, and for providing software upgrades or updates to, the CVSM’s 132 and CSM’s 134. In this regard one or more servers (not shown) of Service Monitor system 140 are communicatively coupled to a PARTNERCONNECT™ service hub 142 included in the digital health gateway system 130. Service hub 142, for example, collects and stores the service data from CVSM’s 132 and CSM’s 134 and stores the software upgrades / updates for dissemination thereto. Similar functionality of service monitor system 140 and service hub 142 can be provided in connection with other types of patient monitors / patient care devices 26 of system 10 in some embodiments.

[0123] Still referring to Fig. 2, digital health gateway system 130 includes one or more enterprise gateways (EG) 150 that are communicatively coupled via respective datalinks to most, if not all, of the devices (e.g., beds 24 and patient monitors / patient care devices 26) and systems (e.g., nurse call system 14, EMR system 16, ADT system 18, RTLS 20, and communication system 22) discussed herein. For example, a bed device gateway (BDG) 152 of system 130 is communicatively coupled to EG 150. BDG 152 communicates with one or more wireless beds 24 via a message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) broker 154 and associateddatalinks. EG 150 is also communicatively coupled to one or more CVSM’s 132 and CSM’s 134 either directly or via server 136 using respective datalinks.

[0124] EG 150 of gateway system 130 is also coupled via an associated datalink to a Tenant Catalog (TC) database 156 which, in turn, is coupled to a platform portal 158 via a corresponding datalink. An asterisked note in Fig. 2 indicates that, “Platform Portal contains ECP and other interfaces.” ECP stands for Embedded Controller Program. In any event, platform portal 158 is a computer or similar device that serves as a gateway to information, services, and resources on the Internet. TC database 156 is also coupled via a respective datalink to a reporting module 160 operating on a server or other computer. Reporting module 160 is communicatively coupled to a Databricks platform 162 which uses artificial intelligence (Al) to manage data. Platform 162, in turn, is communicatively coupled to one or more binary large object (Blob) storage devices 164 for storing data, such as unstructured data, in the illustrative example. TC database 156 is also coupled via a corresponding datalink to a dashboard module 165 of digital health gateway system 130.

[0125] Gateway system 130 further includes a clinical data repository (CDR) database 166 that is communicatively coupled to EG 150, BDG 152, and reporting module 160 via associated datalinks. CDR database 166 is also coupled to a terminology provider module 168 via a corresponding datalink and further has, or interfaces with, a publish-subscribe (Pub-Sub) module 170. Illustrative system 130 also includes an HL7 outbound service module 172 that is communicatively coupled to EG 150 via an associated datalink. System 130 further has a communication pipeline 174 with datalink connections to dashboard 165, Pub-Sub module 170, module 172, and an EventHub publisher service module 176. Pipeline 174 also couples with nurse call system 14 (e.g., with server 44 of system 14) and communication server 100 of communication system 22 via corresponding datalinks.

[0126] As further shown in Fig. 2, network 12 of system 10 includes an alarm manager (AM) system 178 that is communicatively coupled to server 100 via an associated datalink. As further shown in Fig. 2, EG 150 is communicatively coupled to each of nurse call system 14, EMR system 16, ADT system 18, server 100 of communication system 22, and AM system 178 via respective datalinks. In other embodiments of system 10, EG 150 is also communicatively coupled to RTLS server 92 of RTLS system 20, although embodiments in which the location data available in system 20 is also available in either or both of nurse call system 14 and ADT system 18 are also contemplated by the present disclosure. As further shown in Fig. 2, one or more workstations 180, illustratively a laptop computer, are included in system 10 and areconfigured to view the same data in the same format as appears on status board 50 as indicated diagrammatically by arrow 182, as well as having additional data viewing capabilities for the data of system 10 as will be discussed in further detail below in connection with Fig. 7. The additional data is also viewable on the displays of master nurse stations 48 and staff stations 52 according to the present disclosure. When the data of status board 50 is viewed on a workstation 180, the term “dashboard” is sometimes used in connection the display of such data. Thus, the terms “status board” and “dashboard” are used interchangeably herein and refer to data displayed publicly, such as on a large screen at a master nurse station as described above, or data displayed individually to a caregiver at the caregiver’s workstation 180.

[0127] As is apparent from the above discussion, various datalinks are shown in Fig. 2 as interconnecting the various portions of system 10 and system 130. These datalinks are not described in detail herein other than to note that these datalinks can be wired or wireless datalinks and include the various datalink hardware components noted above in connection with Fig. 1 at the discretion of the designer of system 10 (but within the constraints of the protocol being used) and further to note that the acronyms for the communication protocols / formats / meanings of the datalinks in Fig. 2 are provided in Table 1 below:Table 1

[0128] Referring now to Fig. 3, an example of a first screen shot 184 of status data shown on the status board display 50 in a tile format is provided for illustrative purposes. Screen shot 184 has tiles for seven patient rooms in a horizontal single row 186 in an upper region of the display 50. The tiles shown in screen shot 184 are rectangular in shape and have corresponding room numbers of the healthcare facility in an upper right corner thereof. In particular, in the illustrative example, tiles are provided for rooms 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207. Each tile further has a patient risk zone 188 in its upper left comer region in which one or more patient risk icons relating to patient risk data, if any, are displayed.

[0129] In the illustrative example, a bandage icon 190 is shown in the patient risk zones 188 of the tiles for rooms 201 and 202 to indicate that the patient in each of those rooms is designated as a skin risk which means the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pressure ulcers (aka pressure sores or decubitus ulcers). Further, a lungs icon 192 is shown in the patient risk zone 188 of the tile for room 202 to indicate that the patient in room 202 is at risk of developing pulmonary complications, in addition to being a skin risk patient. A falling patient icon 194 is shown in the upper left comer regions of the tiles for rooms 204 and 205 to indicate that the patient in each of those rooms is designated as a falls risk. There are no risk icons shown in the patient risk zones 188 of the tiles for rooms 203 and 206 thereby indicating the absence of any risk designations for the patients in those rooms. The tile for room 207 has a large “X” therein to indicate that no patient is assigned to room 207 or to indicate that the patient assigned to room 207 is not currently in the room.

[0130] Nurse call server 44 commands (i.e., controls) status board 50 to include risk icons 190, 192, 194 in risk zones 188 of the tiles for the associated patients based on risk information (aka risk data) communicated to nurse call server 44 from EMR server 60 or based on risk information input into master nurse station 48 or workstation 180 and communicated to nurse call server 44. At the bottom of each tile is a portion of the associated patient’s name ina Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant format. The patient name information, in the HIPAA-compliant format, is shown in each tile based on patient-to- room association data received from the ADT system, for example. Referring again to the tile for room 207, patient name information is shown in the bottom region of that tile thereby indicating a patient is, in fact, assigned to room 207 such that the “X” means the assigned patient is not currently in room 207. If no patient were assigned to room 207, then the field in the bottom region of the corresponding tile would lack any name information.

[0131] With continued reference to screen shot 184 of Fig. 3, each tile has a device status zone 196, generally in a middle region of the icon above the name information and below the room number. In the device status zone 196, one or more device status icons relating to device status data are displayed. In this regard, the device status data includes bed status data pertaining to associated beds 24 and / or status data from patient monitors / patient care devices 26. The present disclosure contemplates that up to four device status icons can be displayed in the device status zone 196 in each tile at the same time. A prioritization regarding which device status icons are displayed in each zone 196 can be established using an administration computer such as master nurse station 48 or workstation 180. Thus, the administration computer can be used to designate one, two, three, or four bed status icons, for example, to be displayed in each zone 196 of each tile under default conditions. Other bed status icons pertaining to nondesignated bed statuses or lower priority bed statuses, therefore, are omitted from being displayed within zone 196. The same goes for statuses associated with monitors / devices 26. That is, certain icons for monitors / devices 26 can be selected for display in zones 196 of the tiles and prioritized. By limiting the number of device status icons displayed in zone 196 of each of the tiles, the cognitive mental burden on caregivers viewing display 50 is reduced because the caregivers are not overwhelmed by being presented with the large amount of data which is otherwise available within system 10 for display on status board 50.

[0132] In the particular example of screen shot 184 in Fig. 3, an alternating pressure icon 198 and a HOB icon 200 are shown in the device status zone 196 of the tile for room 201. Icon 198 indicates that a mattress of the corresponding bed 24 is operating in an alternating pressure mode and icon 200 indicates that the head section of the corresponding bed 24 is raised above a threshold angle, such as 30 degrees for example. Icon 200 is also shown in the respective device status zones 196 for the tiles of rooms 202, 204, and 205 in the illustrative example. In the tile for room 203, a bed flat icon 230 is shown in the respective device status zone 196 to indicate that the head section of the corresponding bed is not raised above thethreshold angle. Tn the tile for room 206, an edge-of-bed icon 232 is shown in the respective device status zone 196 to indicate that a patient is sitting or otherwise located near the edge of their bed 24 and may be preparing to exit from the bed 24. The tiles corresponding to rooms 201, 203, 204, 206 each have a battery charge icon 256 to indicate a charge level of a backup battery onboard the associated bed 24.

[0133] The present disclosure also contemplates that the device status zones 196 of each tile includes a vital signs zone 234 and patient vital signs data is displayed in the vital signs zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding patient room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount. For example, if the vital signs data includes respiration rate, a lungs icon 236 is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate (i.e., a numerical value of the respiration rate), an up arrow 238 is displayed in the vital signs zone 234 if the respiration rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon 240 is displayed in the vital signs zone 234 if the respiration rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount. Similarly, if the vital signs data includes heart rate, a heart icon (like heart icon 242) is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate (i.e., a numerical value of the heart rate), up arrow 238 is displayed in the vital signs zone 234 if the heart rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and down arrow 240 is displayed in the vital signs zone 234 if the heart rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0134] With the foregoing in mind, lungs icon 236 is shown in the vital signs zone 234 of the tile for room 202 with down arrow 240 and the number 9. Thus, the patient in room 202 has a respiration rate of 9 breaths per minute which is a decrease by a threshold amount (e.g., 3 breaths per minute just to give an arbitrary threshold) from a desired minimum breath rate of at least 12 breaths per minute. As another example, lungs icon 236 is shown in the vital signs zone 234 of the tile for room 205 with up arrow 238 and the number 40. Thus, the patient in room 205 has a respiration rate of 40 breaths per minute which is an increase by a threshold amount (e.g., 10 breaths per minute just to give another arbitrary threshold) from a desired maximum breath rate of 30 breaths per minute.

[0135] With regard to rooms 202 and 205 in the Fig. 3 example, the illustrative respiration rate values are considered to constitute alert conditions for the respective patients that may warrant a caregiver’s action to attend to the patient in the room to determine if additional medical intervention (e.g., a visit to the patient by an attending physician oradministration of medicine) is needed. The present disclosure contemplates that alert conditions occurring in patient rooms result in the tiles of the corresponding rooms being enlarged on status board 50 and an extension field 244 being appended to respective tile to provide additional information about the respective alert condition or about the patient of the room associated with the alert condition. Furthermore, if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions are shown simultaneously in the extension field 244 of the respective tile, assuming there is room for the information. If not, then the information shown in the extension field 244 is dynamically altered periodically to show the additional information on a rotating or cyclical basis, for example.

[0136] In the illustrative example of screen shot 184 of Fig. 3, extension field 244 is appended to the bottom of the tiles for each of rooms 202 and 205. The illustrative extension fields 244 include additional vital signs information. In particular, the extension field 244 appended to the bottom of the tile for room 202 includes heart icon 242, the number 46 to indicate a heart rate of 46 beats per minute, down arrow 240 to indicate that the heart rate decreased from a previous reading (such as by a threshold amount in some embodiments), a blood pressure reading of 76 / 60 millimeters of mercury (mmHg), and a time of 12:46 at which the blood pressure reading was taken. Similarly, the extension field 244 appended to the bottom of the tile for room 205 includes heart icon 242, the number 109 to indicate a heart rate of 109 beats per minute, up arrow 238 to indicate that the heart rate increased from a previous reading (such as by a threshold amount in some embodiments), a blood pressure reading of 140 / 110 mmHg, and a time of 12:46 at which the blood pressure reading was taken.

[0137] The present disclosure contemplates that color-coding is used with regard to each of the tiles presented on the status board display 50 to indicate the alert status, or lack thereof, of each room designated by the displayed tiles. For example, with regard to rooms in which no alert conditions are occurring, at least a portion of the corresponding tiles are color- coded a first color such as green, and in some embodiments, the background within the tile is color-coded the first color (e.g., green) such that the room number and the icons displayed within the tile are shown in colors other than green so as to be visible. With regard to rooms in which normal alerts (e.g., non-critical alerts) are occurring, at least a portion of the corresponding tiles are color-coded a second color such as yellow or amber, and in some embodiments, the background of the corresponding tiles are color-coded the second color, such as yellow or amber. With regard to rooms in which priority alerts (e.g., critical alerts) areoccurring, such as vital signs alerts or code blue alerts, at least a portion of the corresponding tiles are color-coded a third color such as red, and in some embodiments, the background of the corresponding tiles are color-coded the third color, such as red. With regard to rooms for which no patient has been assigned, or the assigned patient is absent from the room, the background of the corresponding tiles are color-coded a fourth color, such as gray.

[0138] It is also within the scope of the present disclosure to employ animation of the tiles or icons within the tiles for which associated alert conditions are occurring. Such animation may include, for example, flashing of the tile or icon corresponding to the alert condition, pulsing in size of the alert condition icon within the tile, color change of the alert condition icon between two colors, superimposing a warning symbol such as an exclamation point, lighting bolt, and the like over the alter condition icon, such as by cyclically adding and removing the warning symbol from over the alert condition icon, showing a warning symbol icon adjacent to the alert condition icon, and other similar such visual effects that draw a viewer’s attention to the alert condition icon.

[0139] With continued reference to Fig. 3, screen shot 184 includes a series of twenty eight thumbnails 248 in a horizontal single row 246 in a lower region of the status board display 50. Furthermore, a context box 250 is provided and surrounds a first group of seven of the thumbnails corresponding to the tiles of the seven patient rooms (i.e., rooms 201-207) being shown in the upper or top region of screen shot 184 is provided. The thumbnails 248 within the context box 250 are color-coded the same color as the color-coding of the tiles for the corresponding seven rooms being displayed. Due to their smaller size, the thumbnails 248 are devoid of the room numbers and any of the status icons corresponding to statuses that are not associated with alert conditions. However, icons associated with occurring alert conditions are provided within the associated thumbnails but in an abbreviated form. In the illustrative example, therefore, lung icons 236 are shown in the thumbnails 248 corresponding to rooms 202 and 205 along with down arrow 240 in the case of the thumbnail 248 corresponding to room 202 and up arrow 238 in the case of the thumbnail 248 for room 205. However, the respiration rate number is absent from the respective thumbnails 248. If multiple alert conditions are occurring in a particular room, then alert icons corresponding to the alert conditions are shown in a cyclic, sequential rotation within the respective thumbnail 248 and are changed periodically (e.g., every two or three seconds just to give a couple arbitrary examples). An “X” icon is also provided in the thumbnail 248 corresponding to room 207 in the illustrative example of screen shot 184.

[0140] The context box 250 is provided to convey to the viewer that there are more rooms in the unit or ward, which is Tower West - 3C in the illustrative example, than the seven rooms having their tiles shown. Thus, there are at least 28 rooms in the unit or ward in the Fig. 3 example but only a quarter (i.e., *4) of those rooms have their corresponding tiles displayed. Displaying only a limited number of tiles on display screen 50 also servers to limit the cognitive burden on the caregiver viewing status board display 50. It has been found that seven tiles is a suitable number for display to limit the cognitive burden on caregivers but limiting the number of displayed tiles to a smaller number (e.g., five tiles) or a larger number (e.g., ten tiles) is within the scope of the present disclosure. In any event, in the illustrative example, the size (e.g., surface area defined by height times width) of the tiles is about four times the size of the thumbnails 248. This logically follows from the fact that there are four times as many thumbnails 248 shown on display 50 than the number of tiles.

[0141] In the illustrative example, a circular dot 252 is centered above context box 250 to make it easier to visually locate the context box 250 within the row 246 of thumbnails 248. In other embodiments, additional rows 246 of thumbnails 248 are shown on display 50 if needed, or the single displayed row 246 is able to scroll horizontally to the left or right, as the case may be, to reveal additional thumbnails 248 for the unit or ward. Furthermore, the thumbnail size can be made smaller or larger to fit the width of the available space on status board display 50. For example, if the unit or ward has only twenty rooms instead of twenty eight rooms, then the thumbnails can be made larger to fit the width of display 50. On the other hand, if the unit or ward has thirty five rooms, then the thumbnails can be made smaller. Such thumbnail size adjustment can be under software control of server 44 or under user control via use of the respective administration computer (e.g., station 48 or workstation 180). The same goes for the display of the tiles. That is, if less tiles than seven are shown on display 50, then they can be made larger, and if more tiles than seven are shown on display 50, then they can be made smaller, again with the size adjustment being under software or user control.

[0142] Referring now to Fig. 4, an example of a second screen shot 253 appearing on display 50 shows that context box 250 has advanced to a second group of seven thumbnails 248 corresponding to rooms 208-214 of the unit of Tower West - 3C in the illustrative example.The time at which the context box 250 advances to the next group of thumbnails 248, thereby to display the tiles of the next group of corresponding rooms, is dependent upon the amount of information (e.g., number of icons, numerical data, and number of alert conditions) occurring in the existing rooms having tiles displayed. For example, if no alert conditions are occurring inconnection with the seven tiles being displayed, then the seven tiles may appear on display 50 for about 7 to about 14 seconds, just to give an arbitrary time period, which is about 1 to about 2 seconds per tile. If any alert conditions are occurring in connection with any of the seven tiles being displayed, then an additional amount of time, such as about 2 to about 5 seconds, may be added to the display time just to give another arbitrary time period per alert conditions.

[0143] The present disclosure further contemplates that time may be subtracted for rooms having an “X” displayed in the respective tiles. For example, about 1 to about 2 seconds may be subtracted from the overall display time for each such room. Time adjustments can also be made based on how many risk icons and device status icons are shown in each tile for each room. Such display times and time adjustment values can be made automatically under software control and / or manually under user control according to the present disclosure. The general concept being that the display time for each group of tiles appearing on display 50 is a dynamic time that varies for each group of tiles being shown depending upon the overall amount of information being displayed, thereby to accommodate the estimated ability of caregivers to perceive and process the amount of information being shown so as to avoid cognitive overload on the caregivers.

[0144] Still referring to Fig. 4, many of the features and icons are the same as those shown and described in connection with Fig. 3 and so like reference numbers are used for such icons and features without any further discussion. Accordingly, only features and icons different than those of Fig. 3 will be discussed in connection with Fig. 4. For example, a gloves icon 254 is shown in risk zone 188 to indicate that caregivers should wear gloves when attending to the patient in room 208 because the patient is a contamination risk such as having a blood borne infection, for example. The tile corresponding to room 209 has a bed exit alarm silence or suspend icon 258 to indicate that a caregiver has silenced a bed exit alarm from sounding or has suspended bed exit alarm monitoring for a period time while the caregiver is present in room 209 such as to assist the patient in going to the bathroom, for example.

[0145] Extension field 244 appended to the tile corresponding to room 210 in Fig. 4 has a siderail status icon 260 and a bed exit alert icon 262 contained therein. Icon 260 has a patient indicia with dashed lines 266 adjacent the patient indicia 264. The dashed line 266 represent left and right head end siderails (aka headrails) of the corresponding bed 24 and left and right foot end siderails (aka foot rails) of the corresponding bed 24. Each of the dashed lines 266 is color-coded in a first color (e.g., green) to indicate that the respective siderail is in a raised position to block patient egress from the bed 24 or a second color (e.g., amber, yellow, ororange) to indicate that the respective siderail is in a lowered position allowing patient egress from the bed 24.

[0146] Because room 210 has a patient designated as a falls risk by icon 194, all four siderails should be in their raised positions and so an alert condition exists due to at least one of the siderails being lowered. Bed exit alert icon 262 has an indicia 268 showing a patient exiting the bed 24 and an adjacent triangle indicia 270 indicating that the patient bed exit is considered to be an alert condition. Thus, extension field 244 of screen shot 253 of Fig. 4 is an example in which two alert conditions based on bed status information are occurring. The thumbnail 258 in context box 250 corresponding to room 210 is color-coded the same as the tile for room 210 to indicate that at least one alert condition is occurring in room 210.

[0147] Still referring to Fig. 4, the tile corresponding to room 213 has a rotation mode icon 272 in device status zone 196 to indicate that the associated mattress of the bed 24 in room 213 is operating in a lateral rotation mode to turn the patient cyclically to their left and to their right. This mode of rotation is sometimes referred to a continuous lateral rotation therapy (CLRT). Also in Fig. 4, the tile corresponding to room 214 has an air fluidized therapy (AFT) icon 274 to indicate that the bed 24 in room 214 is operating to provide air fluidized therapy to the patient. Air fluidized therapy is provided by specialized beds having a stream of pressurized air forced through a mass of glass beads or other similar media to provide low interface pressure between the patient support surface and the patient. One such bed 24 in this regard is the ENVELLA® Air Fluidized bed available from Hill-Rom Company, Inc. of Batesville, Indiana.

[0148] Referring now to Fig. 5, an example of a third screen shot 276 appearing on display 50 shows that context box 250 has advanced to a third group of seven thumbnails 248 corresponding to rooms 215-221 of the unit of Tower West - 3C in the illustrative example. Many of the features and icons of screen shot 276 of Fig. 5 are the same as those shown and described above in connection with Figs. 3 and 4 and so like reference numbers are used for such icons and features without any further discussion. Accordingly, only features and icons different than those of Figs. 3 and 4 will be discussed in connection with Fig. 5. For example, extension field 244 appended to the bottom of the tile corresponding to room 215 includes a battery charging icon 278 to indicated that the onboard battery of the associated bed 24 is in the process of being charged. In the extension field 244 appended to the bottom of the tile corresponding to room 220 a battery drained icon 280 is shown along with siderail status icon 260 to indicate that the onboard battery of the associated bed 24 does not have any charge.

[0149] With continued reference to Fig. 5, the extension field 244 appended to the bottom of the tile corresponding to room 221 is devoid of any icon and therefore, represents an undefined alert condition or some other condition possibly requiring a caregiver’s attention such as a nurse call placed by a nurse call button of the corresponding bed 24 or corresponding pillow speaker unit, for example. A patient lift icon 282 is shown in the device status zone 196 of the tiles corresponding to rooms 217, 218 in the illustrative example. Icons 282 are shown just beneath the respective room numbers and indicate that a patient lift is available in the respective rooms for use in lifting a patient in the room. For example, the patient lift represented by each icon 282 is used to lift the patient from bed 24 for placement on another patient support apparatus such as a chair, wheelchair, or stretcher, for example.

[0150] Referring now to Fig. 6, an example of a fourth screen shot 284 appearing on display 50 shows that context box 250 has advanced to a fourth group of seven thumbnails 248 corresponding to rooms 222-228 of the unit of Tower West - 3C in the illustrative example. Many of the features and icons of screen shot 284 of Fig. 6 are the same as those shown and described above in connection with Figs. 3-5 and so like reference numbers are used for such icons and features without any further discussion. Accordingly, only features and icons different than those of Figs. 3-5 will be discussed in connection with Fig. 6. In fact, the only icon appearing in Fig. 6 that has not already been discussed is a bed-not-low icon 286 that appears in the extension field 244 appended to the bottom of the tile corresponding to room 228. Icon 286 indicates that an upper frame of the bed 24 in room 228 is not in its lowest position.

[0151] Referring now to Fig. 7, an example of a fifth screen shot 288 of status data shown on the status board 50 in the tile format is provided. The tiles appearing in screen shot 288 correspond to semi -private rooms in the illustrative Critical Care East unit of the healthcare facility. As noted previously, semi-private rooms have two beds and two patients per room. Thus, the tiles having room numbers of 1A and IB represent the two beds 24 and patients within room 1 , the tiles having room numbers 2A and 2B represent the two beds 24 and patients within room 2, and so on. Many of the features and icons of screen shot 288 of Fig. 7 are the same as those shown and described above in connection with Figs. 3-6 and so like reference numbers are used for such icons and features without any further discussion. Accordingly, only features and icons different than those of Figs. 3-6 will be discussed in connection with Fig. 7.

[0152] In connection with Fig. 7, a time of 14:24 is shown beneath alternating pressure icon 298 in the extension field 244 appended to the bottom of the tile corresponding to roomI . This time indicates the particular time at which an alert condition, such a cessation in operation of the alternating pressure function of the corresponding bed 24 or mattress bladder leakage, for example, was detected in connection with the alternating pressure function. The extension field 244 appended to the bottom of the tile corresponding to room 3B includes a percussion and vibration (P&V) icon 290, a time beneath icon 290 to indicate a time at which an alert condition was detected in connection with the P&V function, and a head of bed (HOB) angle icon 292 to indicate a HOB alarm based on a particular angle (e.g., 34 degrees in the illustrative example) at which the head section of the corresponding bed 24 is elevated relative to the upper frame or relative to horizontal, depending upon the manner in which the HOB angle is measured, has violated a threshold condition (e.g., being lowered below a threshold angle such as about 40 or about 45 degrees just to give a couple of arbitrary examples).

[0153] Referring now to Fig. 8, an example is shown of a screen shot 294 of a comprehensive patient data screen that appears on the status board display 50 in response to selection of a corresponding tile on a preceding screen. Selection of tile is accomplished, for example, by touching the tile on display 50 if display 50 is a touchscreen display, using a computer mouse to hover a cursor over the corresponding tile and clicking a button of the mouse, using a touch pad of a laptop to move a cursor over the corresponding tile and tapping the touch pad or clicking a button adjacent the touch pad, or using arrow keys of a computer keyboard to highlight the corresponding tile and clicking the enter button on the keyboard, just to give a few selection possibilities.

[0154] In the given example of Fig. 8, the tile for room 205 appearing on first screen shot 184 of Fig. 3 was previously selected and so the comprehensive patient data screen 294 shows a variety of patient data for the patient in room 205. That is, the comprehensive patient data screen 294 shows more patient data than is shown in the tile format of Figs. 3-7 and the table format to be discussed below in connection with Fig. 12. Because screen 294 shows sensitive patient data covered by HIPAA, the present disclosure contemplates that screen 294 is only viewable on the displays of master stations 48, staff stations 52, or workstations 180 and not on the large status board display 50 located at the master station which is publicly viewable. In this regard, caregiver credentials (e.g., user ID and password) may need to be entered by a caregiver in order to access screen 294 for viewing. Screen 294 includes some of the same icons that were discussed above in connection with Figs. 3-7 and so the same reference numbers are used to denote these same icons in Fig. 8 without further discussion.

[0155] As shown in Fig. 8, the comprehensive patient data screen 294 includes a temperature window 296, a weight window 298, a heart rate window 300, and a respiration rate window 302. Windows 296, 298, 300, 302 each displays data points for four previous readings of patient temperature, patient weight, heart rate (HR), and respiration rate (RR), respectively, for the patient in patient room 205. The times at which the respective temperature, weight, HR, and RR readings were taken are also shown in the corresponding windows 296, 298, 300, 302 adjacent to the actual readings. The comprehensive patient data screen 294 further displays numerical values for the following patient risk scores within respective boxes 304, 306, 308, 308, 310, 312, 314: a pressure score (e.g., the International Pressure Ulcer Prevalence (IPUP) score in the illustrative example), a falls risk score, a mobility score (e.g., the Bedside Mobility Assessment Tool (BMAT) score in the illustrative example), a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS).

[0156] Still referring to Fig. 8, the comprehensive patient data screen 294 displays a trending graph 316 showing trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’s heart rate and respiration rate. The illustrative comprehensive patient data screen 294 has a window 318 in which the most recent reading for each of the following of the corresponding patient are shown from top to bottom: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood pressure in mmHg, and temperature in degrees Fahrenheit or degrees Celsius. In the upper left corner region of screen 294 the room number (e.g., 205 in the illustrative example) is shown with a left scroll arrow button 320 and a right scroll arrow button 322 that are selectable to navigate to the comprehensive patient data screens of the previous room (e.g., room 204 in the given example) or the next room (e.g., room 206 in the given example). To the right of button 322 on screen 294 is the full patient name (or at least the patient’s first and last name) and to the right of the full patient name the names of the nurse and doctor assigned to the patient are shown. At the bottom of screen 294, a menu 324 of navigation buttons are provided including a tile format button or icon 326 that is selected to return to the tile format view (e.g., screen shot 184 of Fig. 3 in the given example), a home icon or button 328 to navigate to a home screen, and an administration button or icon 330 to navigate to an initial administration screen for purposes of entering control parameters for status board display 50.

[0157] Referring now to Fig. 9, an example of a screen shot of an alternative tile format screen 332 for display on status board display 50 is shown in which three horizontal rows 334, 336, 338 of eight tiles each are displayed. Screen 332 is devoid of any thumbnails, but insteadhas a tile for each room in the respective ward or unit. Thus, there are 24 total rooms in the unit shown in Fig. 9. Each tile in rows 334, 336, 338 has a header in which the respective room number is shown. The 24 rooms in the illustrative example are rooms 301 W - 324 W. It is this header portion of each tile which is color-coded (e.g., green, red, orange, yellow, gray) to indicate room status. Green indicates no alert conditions in the respective room, red indicates a priority alert condition in the respective room, yellow or amber or orange indicates a normal alert condition in the respective room, and gray indicates that the room is empty.

[0158] Still referring to Fig. 9, the names of the patients in each room are shown in a HIPAA-compliant format just beneath the room number of each tile. In the bottom region of each tile of screen 332 are the names of the nurse and doctor assigned to the corresponding patient. Between the patient name and nurse / doctor names, there is room in each tile of rows 334, 336, 338 for up to four status icons. Because only four icons per tile can be shown in the Fig. 9 example, the cognitive burden on caregivers viewing screen 332 is less than that of caregivers viewing information in the table format of Fig. 12. Many of the features and icons of screen 332 of Fig. 9 are the same as those shown and described above in connection with Figs. 3-7 and in such instances, the reader should refer to the above discussions of such icons. That is, in order to avoid unnecessary clutter in Fig. 9, the icons discussed above do not have any of the corresponding reference numbers applied. Accordingly, only features and icons different than those of Figs. 3-7 will be discussed in connection with Fig. 9.

[0159] In Fig. 9, the tile corresponding to room 301 W in row 334 includes a pressure ulcer icon 340 to indicate that the patient in room 301 W has at least one pressure ulcer. Icon 340 is also shown in the tile in row 336 corresponding to room 311 W. A water droplet icon 342 is shown in the tiles corresponding to rooms 301 W and 303 W in row 334 to indicate that an incontinence detection system has detected that the patient in the corresponding bed 24 has released incontinence. A physician or doctor icon 344 is shown in the tiles corresponding to room 306 W of row 334 and room 312 W of row 336 to indicate that a physician or doctor has been located within the respective room by RTLS 20. A nurse icon 346 is shown in the tiles corresponding to room 307 W of row 334 and room 320 W of row 338 to indicate that a nurse has been located within the respective room by RTLS 20.

[0160] With regard to the rotation mode icons in the tiles corresponding to each of rooms 303 W, 311 W, 313 W, and 315 W a rotation timer is provided beneath the rotation mode icon. Each rotation timer is either a count-up timer indicating how long the rotation mode of the respective bed 24 has been in operation, or a count-down timer indicating how long is leftuntil the rotation mode is finished for the respective hed 24. A wrench icon 348 is shown in the tiles corresponding to rooms 318 W and 323 W of row 338 to indicate that service is needed for the respective bed 24 or for another device 26 in the corresponding room. A power disconnection icon 350 is shown the tile corresponding to room 323 W in row 338 to indicate that the respective bed 24 or some other device 26 in the room has become unplugged from a power outlet in the room.

[0161] With regard to screen 332 of Fig. 9, the present disclosure contemplates that if the particular unit or ward has more than 24 rooms, then the tiles appearing on screen 332 are scrolled upwardly so that the top row 334 disappears from screen 332 and a new row of additional room tiles in groups of eight tiles appear at the bottom of screen 332. In other words, the rows of screen 332 scroll upwardly on a periodic basis so that after a full scrolling cycle, all of the tiles for all of the rooms have been shown on screen 332. The time period at which the rows of screen 332 scroll can be a fixed time period or can be a dynamic time period that adjusts based on the amount of information shown in the tiles that are currently on display.

[0162] Referring now to Fig. 10, a first example of a screen shot 352 is shown in which a comprehensive patient data window 354 appears on the display of a corresponding station 48, 52 or workstation 180 in response to selection of a corresponding tile on the preceding screen of Fig. 9. In the given example of Fig. 10, the tile for room 305 W was selected such that window 354 shows patient and status data for the patient in room 305 W. All of the icons and information shown in window 354 of Fig. 10 have been discussed above except for a pain icon 356 which, in window 354 of screen 352 has a number 2 adjacent to icon 356 to indicate a pain level of 2 on a scale of 1 - 10. When a tile is selected on screen 332 to view the information in window 354 for the corresponding patient, all of the other tiles appearing on screen 332 become grayed on screen 352 when window 354 appears. Thus, the selected tile (e.g., the room 305 W tile in the Fig. 10 example) and window 354 are not grayed out, but all of the other tiles are. Furthermore, when window 354 appears, it covers up about 2 Vi of the grayed out tiles on screen 352.

[0163] Referring now to Fig. 11, a second example of a screen shot 358 is shown in which comprehensive patient data window 354 appears on the display of a corresponding station 48, 52 or workstation 180 in response to selection of a corresponding tile on the preceding screen of Fig. 9. In the illustrative example of Fig. 11, the tile for room 301 W was selected such that window 354 shows patient and status data for the patient in room 301 W. All of the icons and information shown in window 354 of Fig. 11 have been discussed above. Inwindow 354 of screen 358, the number 5 is shown adjacent to icon 356 to indicate a pain level of 5 on a scale of 1 - 10 for the respective patient.

[0164] Fig. 12 is an example of a screen shot 360 of the status data shown on the status board display 50 in a table format having a table 362 with room identifiers of patient rooms of a unit or ward of the healthcare facility corresponding to rows of the table 362. The rows of table 362 extend horizontally with the device status data and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table. Thus, each row of the table 362 has fields corresponding to the respective columns. As is apparent, a greater amount of status data is displayed on the status board display 50 in the table format than in the tile format. In the illustrative Fig. 12 example, in addition to the left hand column having the room number (aka “Bay” numbers in the given example), there are thirteen additional columns of data for each room. Button or icon 326 beneath table 362 serves as a user input that is selectable to switch between the table format and the tile format.

[0165] Still referring to Fig. 12, going from left to right in table 362 of screen shot 360, the first column is a room column 364 which shows the room numbers (aka “Bay” numbers in the Fig. 12 example) of the various rooms in the unit associated with the status board 50 and a patient column 366 showing the full first and last names of the patients in the rooms. In other embodiments, the names are shown in column 366 in a HIPAA-compliant format. Continuing on from left to right in Fig. 12, table 362 includes a Clinical Protocol column 368 which shows designations for the primary reason the corresponding patient has been admitted to the healthcare facility. The clinical protocol examples given in column 368 include, “Cardiac,” “Fracture,” “Sprain,” “Laceration,” “Trauma 1,” “SARS (which stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome),” and “Gasteroenteritis.” Of course, these examples in column 368 are non-limiting and other clinical protocols may be included at the discretion of the administrator or designer of system 10.

[0166] To the right of column 368 in table 362 is a status column 370 which has an icon indicative of overall room status for each room. In table 362, the stratus icons include an exclamation point icon indicating an alert condition in the room, a triangle icon indicating that service is needed in the room, and a check mark icon indicating that no alert conditions are detected in the room. The next column in Fig. 12 is a risks column 372 which has icons to indicate a corresponding patient’ s medical risks. Up to three or four icons can be shown in column 372 for each patient in the illustrative embodiment. More particularly, in the illustrative example, the three icons includes a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is a falls risk, a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at riskof developing pulmonary complications such as ventilated assisted pneumonia (VAP), and a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pressure ulcers (aka bed sores or decubitus ulcers). The risk icons shown in column 372 are the same as those discussed above in some embodiments, but can be different icons in other embodiments such as the illustrative embodiment in which the skin risk icon resembles a clipboard and the pulmonary risk icon resembles a number of bubbles within a circle.

[0167] To the right of column 372 in table 362 is an In-Flight column 374 that includes information about whether the patient is in the room or elsewhere in the healthcare facility. In the illustrative Fig. 12 example, column 374 includes the terms “CT Scan” to indicate the patient has been taken to have a CT scan done, “X-Ray” to indicate the patient has been taken to have an X-Ray done, and “Watch” to indicate the patient is in the room and should be watched or monitored by the assigned caregiver. To the right of column 374 is a duration column 376 having time indicated in day -hour-minute format to indicate how long the patient has been out of the room for a CT Scan or X-Ray and how long the patient has been in the room to be watched.

[0168] The next column of table 362 is a Side Rails column 378 that shows a patient and bed siderails icon with color-coding to indicate the status of the siderails of each patient bed in each of the corresponding patient rooms. The icons in column 378 are the same as icons 260 described above. Thus, the icons in column 378 have the patient indicia 264 and the siderail indicia of four dashes 266 just like icon 260 described above. The siderail indicia is color- coded in column 378 in the same manner as described above with regard to icon 260. To the right of column 378 in table 362 is a Connected column 380 having icons indicating whether the bed 24 in each room is connected to an alternating current (AC) power plug in the room, or is disconnected from AC power (i.e., unplugged). In table 362 of Fig. 12, the icon in column 380 for Bay 04 indicates that the respective bed is unplugged. All of the other icons in column 380 indicate that their respective beds are plugged into AC power.

[0169] To the right of column 380 in table 362 is a Bed Exit column 382 having icons to indicate bed exit status for each patient bed 24 in the corresponding room, then a Bed Low column 384 having icons to indicate bed low status for each patient bed 24 in the corresponding room, and a Bed Brake column 386 having columns to indicate brake on / off status (i.e., braked / unbraked) for each patient bed 24 in the corresponding room. In column 382, a check mark means the PPM / bed exit system of the corresponding bed 24 is armed; an X mark means that the PPM / bed exit system of the corresponding bed 24 is not armed; an empty trianglemeans the PPM / bed exit system of the corresponding bed 24 is not armed but should be for a falls risk patient, or that a patient is absent from the room or not assigned to the room; a dash indicates that no patient bed 24 is currently transmitting bed status data from the corresponding room; and a filled in triangle means that the PPM / bed exit system is armed and is alarming because the corresponding patient has exited the corresponding bed 24 or has moved toward exiting the bed by a threshold amount (e.g., depending the mode of the PPM / bed exit system).

[0170] With regard to column 384, a check mark means that an upper frame of the corresponding bed 24 is in its low position, an X mark means the upper frame of the corresponding bed 24 is not in its low position, and a dash indicates that no patient bed 24 is currently transmitting bed status data from the corresponding room. With regard to column 386, a check mark means that casters brakes of the corresponding bed 24 are braked (e.g., locked or “on”), an X mark means that the caster brakes of the corresponding bed 24 are unbraked (e.g., unlocked or “off”), an empty triangle means that a bed brakes alert is occurring such as for a corresponding falls risk patient, and a dash indicates that no patient bed 24 is currently transmitting bed status data from the corresponding room.

[0171] To the right of column 386 in table 362 is a Battery column 388 that contains a battery icon that indicates a charge level of the onboard battery of the corresponding bed 24. If the onboard battery of the bed 24 is fully charged, then four bars are shown in the respective battery icon and if the onboard battery of the bed 24 is fully discharged, then no bars are shown in the respective battery icon. Battery icons having one, two, or three bars indicate a corresponding amount of battery charge. That is, four bars indicates battery charge from about 100% to about 75%, three bars indicated battery charge from about 75% to about 50%, two bars indicates battery charge from about 50% to about 25%, and 1 bar indicates battery charge from about 25% to about 0%. Finally, to the right of column 388 in table 362 is a Falls Risk column 390 that has a falls risk number for each of the corresponding patients. In some embodiments, the falls risk numbers in column 390 is the BMAT score mentioned above.

[0172] Referring now to Fig. 13, an example of a screen shot 400 of status data of system 10 is shown on the dashboard display 50 of workstation 180 in a table format having a table 402 with room identifiers of patient rooms of a unit or ward of the healthcare facility corresponding to rows of the table 402. Thus, table 402 is similar to table 362 of Fig. 12 and so, where appropriate, the same reference numbers are used in Fig. 13 to denote like portions between Figs. 12 and 13, and the descriptions of the like portions are not repeated. That is, thediscussion below focuses on the differences between table 362 and table 402, generally going from left to right in table 402.

[0173] Table 402 includes a Nursing Unit column 404 which indicates a name of a unit in the healthcare facility in which each of the corresponding rooms in column 364 is assigned. In the illustrative Fig. 13 example, each of the rooms shown is located in the cardiology unit. Other unit names which may appear in column 404 include, for example, an intensive care unit (ICU), a med / surg unit, a maternity unit, a critical care unit, and an oncology unit, just to name a few. In table 402, wrench icons 348 and an electrical system fault icon 405 appear in Room column 364 adjacent to particular rooms to indicate that service is needed for the respective bed 24 or for another device 26 in the corresponding room. In some embodiments, electrical system fault icon 405 pertains to a vital signs sensor of the corresponding bed 24 becoming disabled for a variety of reasons as discussed in further detail below in connection with Fig. 18. In table 402, the Patient column 366 has the full names of patients, in the format [last name], [first name], thereby indicating that table 402 is being viewed on the workstation 180 of an individual caregiver rather than on the status board 50 located in a public space in the healthcare facility. If table 402 were shown on the status board 50 at a master nurse station, for example, the patient names would be presented in a HIPAA-compliant format.

[0174] Table 402 further includes a Bed Position column 406 having one or more icons indicative of a bed position of the associated patient bed 24. For example, a first bed position icon 408 is displayed in a corresponding row of table 402 if the associated patient bed 24 is in a first configuration, illustratively a chair configuration, and a second bed position icon 410 is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed 24 is in a second configuration, illustrative an exit assist configuration. The exit assist configuration is sometimes referred to as a chair egress position which refers to the bed configuration when a patient is able to stand up from the foot end of the bed. The present disclosure contemplates that other bed position icons appear in column 406, if desired, to indicate other positions of the associated patient bed 24 such as, for example, a Trendelenburg position, a reverse Trendelenburg position, a dining chair position, an auto contour position, and so forth. The number and type of bed condition icons that are available for display in column 406, therefore, is at the discretion of the designer or programmer of system 10.

[0175] With continued reference to Fig. 13, table 402 includes an HOB column 412 which indicates an angle, in degrees, at which a head section (aka a back section or torso section) of the associated patient bed 24 is raised with respect to an upper frame of the bed 24or with respect to horizontal depending upon the type of angle sensor used (e.g., a rotary potentiometer in a linear actuator that moves the head section, or an accelerometer coupled to the head section to pivot therewith). “HOB” is an acronym that stands for “head of bed.” An empty triangle icon is shown in column 412 in lieu of the HOB angle if the HOB angle for an associated patient bed 24 violates a threshold condition. For example, for some patients such as those at risk of developing ventilator assisted pneumonia (VAP), the head section of the associated patient bed 24 is required to be raised to at least a HOB angle of 30 degrees. Accordingly, if HOB angle monitoring is enabled for patients on such patient beds 24 and the HOB angle drops below 30 degrees, an alert condition is considered to exist, and the empty triangle symbol will appear in column 412 for the corresponding patient room.

[0176] To the right of HOB column 412 in table 402 is a Bed HR / RR On column 414 which indicates whether the associated patient bed is monitoring the corresponding patient’ s heart rate (HR) and / or respiration rate (RR). For example, the CENTRELLA® Smart+ bed mentioned hereinabove, optionally includes a contact free continuous monitoring (CRCM) feature in which a sensor on the bed’s head section beneath a torso portion of the associated mattress, detects vibrations that correspond to the respective patient’s HR and RR. In column 414, a check mark means the HR / RR monitoring feature of the corresponding bed 24 is available and is turned on; an X mark means that the HR / RR monitoring system of the corresponding bed 24 is available and is turned off; and a dash indicates either (i) that the associated patient bed 24 does not have an HR / RR monitoring feature, (ii) that the associated patient bed 24 is currently not transmitting HR / RR data, or (iii) that no patient bed 24 is currently located in the corresponding room.

[0177] With continued reference to Fig. 13, an HR column 416 appears in table 402 to the right of column 414 and includes a numerical value therein corresponding to the most recently received data for the heart rate, in beats per minute, for the associated patient. Colorcoding (e.g., red) in the form of a box or other similar indicator (e.g., a circle is an alternative) appears around the numerical value in column 416 if the HR data violates a threshold condition, such as exceeding a threshold or being less than a threshold. In the illustrative example, the color-coding box is provided around the numerical HR data in column 416 for rooms 202- A, 205-B, and 208-B, presumably because the HR of 90 beats per minute of the corresponding patient exceeds a threshold, such as 88 or 89 beats per minute just to give a couple of arbitrary thresholds. The HR minimum and maximum thresholds are programmable (e.g., selectable) by caregivers at each of the corresponding patient beds 24 having HR monitoring functionality.Thus, the HR thresholds may vary from patient to patient based on the programming of the corresponding patient bed 24.

[0178] An RR column 418 appears in table 402 to the right of column 416 and includes a numerical value therein corresponding to the most recently received data for the respiration rate, in breathes per minute, for the associated patient. Similar to the HR data in column 416, color-coding (e.g., red) in the form of a box or other similar indicator (e.g., a circle is an alternative) appears around the numerical value in column 418 if the RR data violates a threshold condition, such as exceeding a threshold or being less than a threshold. In the illustrative example, the color-coding box is provided around the numerical RR data in column 418 for rooms 201-B and 208- A, presumably because the RR of 30 beats per minute of the corresponding patient is less than a threshold, such as 32 or 33 beats per minute just to give a couple of arbitrary thresholds. The RR minimum and maximum thresholds are programmable (e.g., selectable) by caregivers at each of the corresponding patient beds 24 having RR monitoring functionality. Thus, the RR thresholds may vary from patient to patient based on the programming of the corresponding patient bed 24.

[0179] Still referring to Fig. 13, particularly the drawing sheet having Fig. 13(CONT.) thereon, a Temperature column 420 appears in table 402 to the right of RR column 418 which displays a pair of numerical values therein corresponding to the most recently received data for the temperature, in both Celsius and Fahrenheit, for the associated patient. Column 420 is configurable such that only the Celsius temperature value or only the Fahrenheit temperature value appears for each patient, if desired. If no temperature data is available for a particular patient, the corresponding row in column 420 includes a dash and if there is no patient in the corresponding patient room, the respective row in column 420 is blank. The temperature data appearing in column 420 corresponds to the most recently obtained reading from one of patient care monitors / devices 26 (e.g., a thermometer) and input into EMR server 60, such as by use of one of the EMR computers or terminals 62, and then communicated to nurse call server 44 of nurse call system 14 or communicated to a separate dashboard / status board server directly or via the nurse call server 44. In some embodiments, the nurse call server 44 also operates as the dashboard / status board server.

[0180] To the right of Temperature column 420 is a Blood Pressure column 422 which displays blood pressure therein corresponding to the most recently received data for the blood pressure (e.g., systolic and diastolic readings) for the associated patient. If no blood pressure data is available for a particular patient, the corresponding row in column 422 includes a dashand if there is no patient in the corresponding patient room, the respective row in column 422 is blank. The blood pressure data appearing in column 422 corresponds to the most recently obtained reading from one of patient care monitors / devices 26 (e.g., a blood pressure cuff and monitor) and input into EMR server 60, such as by use of one of the EMR computers or terminals 62, and then communicated to nurse call server 44 of nurse call system 14 or communicated to a separate dashboard / status board server directly or via the nurse call server 44. As noted above, the nurse call server 44 also operates as the dashboard / status board server in some embodiments.

[0181] To the right of Blood Pressure column 422 is an SPO2 column 424 which displays blood oxygenation, in per cent, therein corresponding to the most recently received data for the blood oxygenation for the associated patient. If no SPO2 data is available for a particular patient, the corresponding row in column 424 includes a dash and if there is no patient in the corresponding patient room, the respective row in column 424 is blank. The SPO2 / blood oxygenation data appearing in column 424 corresponds to the most recently obtained reading from one of patient care monitors / devices 26 (e.g., a pulse oximeter) and input into EMR server 60, such as by use of one of the EMR computers or terminals 62, and then communicated to nurse call server 44 and / or a separate dashboard / status board server of nurse call system 14.

[0182] To the right of SPO2 column 424 is a Pain Score column 426 which displays the most recently received pain score data for the associated patient. The pain score of each patient is entered into the patient’ s EMR of EMR server 60 with an appropriate computer device such as a tablet computer, laptop computer (e.g., workstation 180), mobile phone, or one of the EMR computers / terminals 62, for example. Thus, unlike the patient’s HR, RR, temperature, blood pressure, and blood oxygenation, the pain score is a subjective value that is not measured by one of the patient care monitors / devices 26. In any event, the pain score for each patient is transmitted to nurse call server 44 and / or the dashboard / status board server of nurse call system 14. If no pain score data is available for a particular patient, the corresponding row in column 426 includes a dash and if there is no patient in the corresponding patient room, the respective row in column 426 is blank.

[0183] With continued reference to Fig. 13(CONT.), a Weight column 428 appears in table 402 to the right of Pain Score column 426 and displays a pair of numerical values therein corresponding to the most recently received data from the respective patient bed 24 for the weight, in both kilograms (KG) and pounds (LB), of the associated patient. As notedhereinabove, patient beds 24 include weigh scale systems that determine the weight of the respective patient thereon. Column 428 is configurable such that only the weight value in KG’s or only the weight value in LB’s appears for each patient, if desired. If no weight data is available for a particular patient, the corresponding row in column 428 includes a dash and if there is no patient in the corresponding patient room, the respective row in column 428 is blank. If the patient bed 24 in any particular room does not have a weigh scale system, then the weight data appearing in column 428 is received from EMR server 60, in some embodiments, if such weight data has been entered into the EMR of the associated patient.

[0184] To the right of Weight column 428 in table 402 is a MEWS column 430 which displays the most recently received modified early warning score (MEWS) data for the associated patient. The MEWS of each patient is calculated based on several factors or data points. Such factors or data points include HR, RR, systolic blood pressure, temperature, and level of consciousness (e.g., based on an AVPU assessment corresponding to the patient being Alert (A), responsive to Voice (V), responsive to Pain (P), or Unresponsive (U)). Thus, some of the data points of the MEWS are objective and are measured or sensed by the patient bed 24 (e.g., HR and RR) or by respective patient care monitors / devices 26 (e.g., systolic blood pressure and temperature), whereas the AVPU level of consciousness portion of the MEWS is subjective based on a caregiver’s assessment of the associated patient.

[0185] According to this disclosure, therefore, the data needed to calculate the MEWS is obtained from sensors included as part of patient beds 24 and patient care devices 26, and / or is received as manual user inputs based on clinical insights of caregivers. The MEWS is a known score calculated based on the following table:Table 1

[0186] In Table 1, the various integers in the column headings are added together based on the various readings for the person of the data corresponding to the rows of the table. In any event, suffice it so say that the EMR server 60 and / or nurse call server 44 and / or any separate dashboard server (aka status board server) of system 10 cooperate to share data, as necessary, such that at least one of these servers is able to calculate the MEWS for each of the patients for which the factors and data points of the MEWS are available for ultimate display in column 430 of table 402. If no MEWS data is available for a particular patient, the corresponding row in column 430 includes a dash and if there is no patient in the corresponding patient room, the respective row in column 430 is blank.

[0187] To the right of MEWS column 430 in table 402 is a SIRS column 432 which displays the most recently received systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score for the associated patient. The SIRS score assigns an integer of 0 or 1 depending upon the value of certain patient physiological parameters. For example, the SIRS score typically includes the following four variables: Temperature 38 degrees C or < 36 degrees C (Yes = 1; No = 0); Heart rate > 90 (Yes = 1; No = 0); Respiratory rate > 20 or PaCO2 < 32 mmHg (Yes = 1; No = 0); white blood count (WBC) > 12,000 1 mm3or < 4,000 1 mm3or > 10% bands (Yes = 1; No = 0). Some other factors that are commonly used in connection with a SIRS score include suspected or present source of infection (SIRS + source of infection), severe sepsis criteria (organ dysfunction, hypotension, or hypoperfusion) indicated by lactic acidosis or SBP < 90 or SBP drop > 40 mmHg of normal, and evidence of > 2 organs failing (multiple organ dysfunction syndrome criteria), just to name a few. In any event the SIRS value is a numerical score indicating the number of SIRS risk factors that are met (e.g., the sum of each risk factor having a value of 1).

[0188] Similar to the MEWS, the data needed to calculate the SIRS score is obtained from sensors included as part of patient beds 24 and / or patient care devices 26, and / or is received as manual user inputs at the EMR server based on a clinical assessment of caregivers or based on laboratory results, such as results of a blood test, for example. Also similar to the MEWS as discussed above, the EMR server 60 and / or nurse call server 44 and / or any separate dashboard server (aka status board server) of system 10 cooperate to share data, as necessary, such that at least one of these servers is able to calculate the SIRS score for each of the patients for which the factors and data points of the SIRS score are available for ultimate display in column 432 of table 402. If no SIRS score data is available for a particular patient, thecorresponding row in column 432 includes a dash and if there is no patient in the corresponding patient room, the respective row in column 432 is blank.

[0189] To the right of SIRS column 432 in table 402 of Fig. 13(CONT.) is a Therapy Mode column 434 in which up to three therapy mode icons are displayed to indicate that the associated patient bed 24 is operating in a corresponding therapy mode. A table 440, shown in Fig. 14, illustrates various examples of icons that are displayed in table 402 in Bed Position column 406 when the patient bed 24 is in the corresponding position and in Therapy Mode column 434 when an associated therapy of the corresponding patient bed 24 is turned on. Thus, the first two rows of table 440 depict the chair icon 408 and exit assist icon 410 of column 406 discussed above. In the next two rows beneath the exit assist icon 410 in table 440 is an alternating low pressure (ALP) icon 442 (aka an alternating pressure (AP) icon 442). Some patient beds 24 refer to an ALP feature whereas other beds refer to an AP feature, but these are basically the same feature in which sets of alternating bladders (e.g., an A set of bladders and a B set of bladders) of a mattress (aka patient support surface) are sequentially inflated and deflated as a group out of phase with each other such that when the A set of bladders are inflated, the B set of bladders are deflated, and vice versa, so that the respective patient is supported primarily on whichever of the A set and B set of bladders is inflated, thereby to shift the areas of interface pressure between the patient and the underlying patient support surface sequentially over time.

[0190] Beneath the AP icon 442 in table 440 is an MCM icon 444 which appears in column 434 of table 402 when a microclimate management (MCM) feature of the respective patient bed 24 is turned on. The MCM feature refers to air being forced by a blower or other pressurized air source through an upper envelope of the corresponding patient support surface, oftentimes through a 3-dimensional spacer material, so as to wick moisture and heat away from the patient, for expulsion to the ambient atmosphere. The next three rows beneath MCM icon 444 in table 440 include a left CLRT icon 446, a right CLRT icon 448, and a flat CLRT icon 450. Icons 446, 448, 450 appear in column 434 of table 402 when a continuous lateral rotation therapy (CLRT) of the corresponding patient bed 24 is operated to continuously rotate a patient back and forth to their left side and right side, with a non-rotated flat position occurring for a dwell time between each of the left and right turn rotation cycles, so as to prevent or minimize pulmonary complications from occurring. CLRT helps to prevent pressure ulcers and promotes drainage of fluid secretions in the patient’s lungs.

[0191] During CLRT, icons 446, 448, 450 appear alternately or cyclically in column 434 depending upon the particular state in which the associated mattress is in currently. Thus, when a left side of the patient is raised such as by inflation of a left rotation bladder of the mattress, left CLRT icon 446 is shown in column 434. Then, when the left turn bladder is deflated, the flat CLRT icon 450 is shown in column 434 during the dwell time before a right rotation bladder of the mattress is inflated. Thereafter, when a right side of the patient is raised such as by inflation of the right rotation bladder of the mattress, right CLRT icon 448 is shown in column 434. Then, when the right turn bladder is deflated, the flat CLRT icon 450 is, once again, shown in column 434. The cyclic display of icons 446, 448, 450 occurs repeatedly for however long the CLRT occurs. It should be understood that only one of icons 446, 448,450 is displayed at any given time in column 434 during CLRT and that the icons 446, 448, 450, when displayed during the CLRT, occupy the same position within column 434 for the corresponding patient bed 24.

[0192] Beneath icon 450 in table 440 is an automatic CLRT icon 452. During CLRT therapy, some patient beds 24 do not transmit bed status data indicating whether the mattress is currently in the left turn state, the right turn state, or the flat state, but rather these patient beds 24 only transmit bed status data with respect to the CLRT function to indicate that the CLRT function is turned on. For such patient beds 24, it is not possible to display icons 446, 448, 450 in column 434 because the particular state of the mattress during CLRT is unknown. Accordingly, for such patient beds 24, the automatic CLRT icon 452 is displayed in column 434 of table 402 for the duration of the CLRT of the corresponding bed 24.

[0193] The next two rows beneath automatic CLRT icon 452 in table 440 include a left turn assist icon 454 and a right turn assist icon 456. Icons 454, 456 appear in column 434 of table 402 when a left turn function or a right turn function is operated to turn the patient to their left side, or to their right side, a single time and then held in the turned position for some threshold period of time. This type of single turn to the left or to the right is sometimes referred to as mobilization of the patient and is oftentimes performed to change a patient’s wound dressing if the wound dressing is located on the patient’ s back or posterior side, or to facilitate changing of the bed sheets of the corresponding patient bed 24. In many patient beds 24, the same mattress bladders that are inflated during CLRT are also inflated to perform the left turn or right turn operation, although just one of such bladders are inflated for the left turn or right turn as the case may be. Hence, the left turn assist icon 454 is similar to the left CLRT icon 446 except a patient indicia appears in icon 454 in lieu of a lung indicia which appears in icon 446.Similarly, the right turn assist icon 456 is similar to the right CLRT icon 448 except the patient indicia appears in icon 456 in lieu of the lung indicia which appears in icon 448.

[0194] The next three rows beneath right turn assist icon 456 in table 440 include a left LPR icon 458, a right LPR icon 460, and a flat LPR icon 462. Icons 458, 460, 462 appear in column 434 of table 402 when a lateral pressure redistribution (LPR) therapy of the corresponding patient bed 24 is operated to continuously rotate a portion of the patient (e.g., the patient’ s upper torso) back and forth to their left side and right side, with a non-rotated flat position occurring for a dwell time between each of the left and right turn rotation cycles, so as to prevent or minimize pressure ulcers from occurring. Thus, LPR therapy is similar to the CLRT discussed above. Accordingly, some patient beds 24 are considered to have a CLRT function whereas other patient beds 24 are considered to have an LPR function. However, it is within the scope of the present disclosure for patient beds 24 to have CLRT and LPR functions in which an upper portion of the patient (e.g., the patient’s torso) is rotated during the LPR function and in which upper and lower portions of the patient (e.g., the patient’s torso and legs) are rotated during the CLRT function.

[0195] During LPR therapy, icons 458, 460, 462 appear alternately or cyclically in column 434 depending upon the particular state in which the associated mattress is in currently. Thus, when a left upper portion of the patient is raised such as by inflation of a left LPR bladder of the mattress, left LPR icon 458 is shown in column 434. Then, when the left LPR bladder is deflated, the flat LPR icon 462 is shown in column 434 during the dwell time before a right LPR bladder of the mattress is inflated. Thereafter, when a right upper portion of the patient is raised such as by inflation of the right LPR bladder of the mattress, right LPR icon 460 is shown in column 434. Then, when the right LPR bladder is deflated, the flat LPR icon 462 is, once again, shown in column 434. The cyclic display of icons 458, 460, 462 occurs repeatedly for however long the LPR therapy occurs. It should be understood that only one of icons 458, 460,462 is displayed at any given time in column 434 during LPR therapy and that the icons 458, 460, 462, when displayed during LPR therapy, occupy the same position within column 434 for the corresponding patient bed 24.

[0196] Beneath icon 462 in table 440 is an automatic LPR icon 464. During LPR therapy, some patient beds 24 do not transmit bed status data indicating whether the mattress is currently in the left LPR state, the right LPR state, or the flat state, but rather these patient beds 24 only transmit bed status data with regard to the LPR function indicating that the LPR therapy function is turned on. For such patient beds 24, it is not possible to display icons 458, 460, 462in column 434 because the particular state of the mattress during LPR therapy is unknown. Accordingly, for such patient beds 24, the automatic LPR icon 464 is displayed in column 434 of table 402 for the duration of the LPR therapy of the corresponding bed 24.

[0197] Beneath icon 464 in table 440 is a prone icon 466 which appears in column 434 of table 402 to indicate that the associated patient bed 24 is configured to support the respective patient is in a prone position on the patient bed 24. In some patient beds 24, for example, the mattress of the patient bed 24 deflates certain bladders, particularly beneath the head region of the patient, to accommodate the patient’s face when lying in the prone position. Other bladders of the mattress may be inflated to help secure the patient in place on the mattress in the prone position. These sorts of retention bladders may be situated laterally to the left and right sides of the patient, for example, or may be situated between the patient’s legs. Patients are sometimes placed in a prone position on patient beds 24 when they are intubated and in a medically induced coma (MIC), for example.

[0198] The icons 408, 410 of table 440 which are displayed in column 406 of table 402 under appropriate circumstances, and the icons 442, 444, 446, 448, 448, 450, 453, 454, 456, 458, 460, 462, 464, 466 which are displayed in column 434 of table 402 under appropriate circumstances, are among the icons available to be displayed in the tiles of the type shown in Figs. 3-7 when the status board 50 is configured in the tile format, assuming such icons 408, 410, 442, 444, 446, 448, 448, 450, 453, 454, 456, 458, 460, 462, 464, 466 have been selected for display in one or more of the tiles of the tile format. See the discussion hereinabove regarding the selection of icons for display in a corresponding tile. Icons 408, 410, 442, 444, 446, 448, 448, 450, 453, 454, 456, 458, 460, 462, 464, 466 are also among the icons that may be displayed in the comprehensive patient data screen 294 of Fig. 8 if selected for such display.

[0199] Referring once again to Fig. 13 (CONT.), to the right of Therapy Mode column 434 is a Time in Mode column 436 which indicates an amount of time that the associated patient bed 24 has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode. The time is shown in column 436 in an hours : minutes format (e.g., 00:29 for 29 minutes). If there are multiple therapies occurring on a particular patient bed 24, then the amount of time displayed in column 436 for that bed 24 is the amount of time that the therapy of the shortest scheduled duration has been operating. For example, in the first row of table 402, the patient bed 24 in room 201-A is operating in MCM, AP, and right turn assist therapy modes as indicated by icons 442, 444, 456. In general, an MCM therapy will oftentimes be operated for the entire time that a patient is present on an associated patient bed 24 as well as continuing to operate even if the patient exitsthe bed. Thus, MCM therapy will typically have long times of operation. An alternating pressure mode also may be scheduled to last for a long time, such as four or eight hours, or even continuously. On the other hand, a turn assist therapy typically has a limited duration because the task to be performed by the caregiver during a patient turn is typically performed relatively quickly, lasting no more than 30 minutes or an hour, for example.

[0200] Thus, in the illustrative example, there is 29 minutes left in the right turn assist therapy mode for the patient bed 24 corresponding to the first row of table 402. After the right turn assist therapy is finished, icon 456 will disappear from the first row and, assuming hypothetically that the AP therapy is scheduled for 4 hours, the amount of time in the 4 hour window that the AP therapy has been operating, will then appear in column 436 in the first row. In alternative embodiments, the time shown in column 436 cycles through all of the times of operation of the currently operating therapies with the therapy having its time displayed in column 436 being highlighted to indicate the particular therapy to which the displayed time pertains.

[0201] To the right of Time in Mode column 436 is a Reminder column 438 which indicates how much time remains before a currently operating therapy mode is completed. The present disclosure contemplates that color-coding is used in the Reminder column 438 to indicate that the time remaining is less than a threshold amount of time or that the time of the scheduled therapy has been exceeded, such as for those therapies that need to be turned off by a caregiver rather than being turned off automatically by the patient bed 24. For example, orange highlighting is used in column 438 in some embodiments to indicate that there is less than 5 minutes of operation left for the respective therapy and red highlighting is used in column 438 to indicate that the time of the scheduled therapy has been exceeded. In the illustrative example, rectangles are used in column 438 to represent those rows for which color-coding appears.

[0202] Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that icons 408, 410 of table 440 which are displayed in column 406 of table 402, and the icons 442, 444, 446, 448, 448, 450, 453, 454, 456, 458, 460, 462, 464, 466 which are displayed in column 434 of table 402, only appear in columns 406, 434 while the bed 24 is in the respective bed position, with regard to column 406, and while the bed 24 has the respective therapy turned on. Accordingly, when the bed position changes out of the position corresponding to a respective one of icons 408, 410 for a particular patient bed 24, the associated icon 408, 410 is removed from column 406, and when the therapy corresponding to a respective one of icons 442, 444, 446, 448, 448, 450, 453, 454,456, 458, 460, 462, 464, 466 for a particular bed 24 is turned off, the associated icon 442, 444, 446, 448, 448, 450, 453, 454, 456, 458, 460, 462, 464, 466 is removed from column 434.

[0203] Referring now to Fig. 15, an example of a screen shot 470 is provided to depict a portion of a table 472 that is shown on the status board display 50 in some embodiments according to the present disclosure. In table 472 an alternative Patient column 474 is shown to the right of the Room column 364. Patient column 474 has patient name information in a HIPAA-compliant format (e.g., Wa..nA in the first row) for the corresponding room in which a patient’ s identity has been verified by a caregiver and has a non-descript character string in the Patient column 474 for corresponding rooms in which a patient’s identity has not been verified. In Fig. 15, four different examples of contemplated non-descript character strings are shown. These include the following: *** *** A, . . . ??? . . ., Unknown A, and - . Thus, asterisks, triangle symbols, dashes, question marks, and the word “Unknown” are all considered to make up some, or all, of a non-descript character string according to the present disclosure. However, other characters, words, and symbols may be used in addition to, or in lieu of, those of the illustrative example. For example, the words “Verify patient” are used in some embodiments as the non-descript character string. In this regard see the tile in Fig. 17 corresponding to room B26. The same string, “Verify patient,” therefore appears in column 474 of table 472 in connection with room B26 when the patient data is viewed in the table format rather than in the tile format.

[0204] In order to verify the patient’s identity in a particular room, a caregiver uses inputs on a GUI of the corresponding patient bed 24 or uses another computer device (e.g., mobile phone 114, tablet computer, laptop computer, workstation 180, room stations 36, etc.) to provide inputs to system 10 regarding patient verification. With regard to use of a bed GUI to verify the patient’s identity, see for example Figs. 5A, 5B, and 7, and the related discussion of these Figs., in U.S. Patent No. 11,911,325 which is hereby incorporated by reference herein to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure which shall control as to any inconsistencies.

[0205] In table 472 of screen shot 470 of Fig. 15, a Notes column 476 appears to the right of Patient column 474. Notes column 476 includes caregiver notes about the corresponding patient and can include anything the caregiver decides to enter as a note using a computer device such as any of those described hereinabove including workstation 180, master nurse station 48, staff stations 52, mobile devices 114, EMR computers / terminals 62, and GUI’s of beds 24, for example. In Fig. 15, the illustrative notes appearing in column 475, which areonly exemplary in nature and non -exhaustive, include the following: “Hard of hearing, Latex allergy;” “Contact precaution, Droplet precaution;” “NPO after midnight;” “NPO;” and “Contact precaution, Airborne precaut. ...” The acronym NPO is based on the Latin phrase “nil per os” which means “nothing by mouth.” NPO is oftentimes used to indicate that the patient is scheduled for surgery within the next 8 hours and so should not have any food or drink prior to surgery.

[0206] Referring now to Fig. 16, a block diagram is provided to depict a rudimentary version of system 10 which is applicable to both on-premises and cloud-based systems 10 having dashboard displays 50, including on workstations 180. Thus, in Fig. 16, a dashboard client block 50, 180 is provided to represent both status board displays 50 and workstations 180. Other portions of system 10 shown in Fig. 16 which are also shown in Figs. 1 and 2 above are denoted by like reference numbers and the descriptions are not repeated. Such like components include patient beds 24 and patient monitors / devices 26 which are represented in Fig. 16 by a single Device Data - Beds / CFCM block 24, 26; EMR system 16; and ADT system 18 which are represented by respective blocks; Tenant Catalog (TC) database 156; and clinical data repository (CDR) database 166.

[0207] With continued reference to Fig. 16, TC and CDR databases 156, 166 are represented as sub-blocks within a Host System block corresponding to a Host System 480. The illustrative Host System 480 is a digital health platform (DHP), such as the Baxter Digital Health Platform (BDHP) available from Baxter International, Inc. of Deerfield, Illinois, USA. The present disclosure contemplates that Host System 480 can be located, in whole or in part, at a healthcare facility (e.g., on-premises) or elsewhere (e.g., off premises) such as at a cloud computing facility or at a facility of the manufacturer or distributor of some or all of patient beds 24, patient care devices 26, components of nurse call system 14, RTLS system 20, Comm system 22, etc. and / or a provider of software for one or more of nurse call system 14, EMR system 16, ADT system 18, RTLS system 20, Comm system 22, etc. Thus, Host System 480 includes one or more servers, such as servers 44, 60, 74, 92, 100 discussed above in connection with Fig. 1, and / or one or more gateways, such as gateway 150 discussed above in connection with Fig. 2, in some embodiments.

[0208] In the illustrative embodiment, Host System 480 communicates with a dashboard service 482 which is embodied as software on a server, for example. The dashboard service 482 is provided by software stored in nurse call server 44 in some embodiments. As shown in Fig. 16, Host System 480 includes a Redis Cache 484 for storage of data occurring insystem 10 that is not otherwise stored in TC database 156 or in CDR database 166. Host system 486 further includes a View Config Storage database 486 in which are stored the various configurations (e.g., user selections of icons, status board tile and table format preferences, dashboard tile and table format preferences, etc.) of data display on the status boards / dashboards 50 that are located throughout the corresponding healthcare facility of system 10.

[0209] As indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 16, each of TC database 156, CDR database 166, Redis Cache 484, and View Config Storage database 486 are coupled to dashboard service 482 such that relevant data from databases 156, 166 and cache 484 are available for display on the dashboard client 50, 180 according to the display configurations stored in database 486 and communicated to dashboard service 482 along with the data for display. Also in the illustrative embodiment of Fig. 16, a Rabbit MQ block 488 represents open-source Rabbit MQ message-queueing software in which queues are defined, for transfer of one or more messages. As suggested in Fig. 16, some data from CDR database 166 is communicated to dashboard service 482 directly and some data from CDR database 166 is communicated to dashboard service 482 through Rabbit MQ software 488.

[0210] A SignalR block 490 is interposed in Fig. 16 between dashboard service 482 and dashboard client 50, 180. Block 490 represents SignalR software which is a free, open-source software library that allows developers to add real-time web functionality to ASP.NET applications which operate to push data between servers, such as a server running the software of dashboard service 482, and connected clients, such as one or more of dashboard clients 50, 180. As further suggested in Fig. 16, some data from dashboard service 482 is communicated to each dashboard client 50, 180 directly and some data from dashboard service 482 is communicated to each dashboard client 50, 180 through SingalR software 488. System 10 of Fig. 16 also includes an authentication source block 492 to represent the software process of determining whether each of the patients in the respective patient rooms have had their identities verified by a caregiver. Thus, the software of authentication source block 492 determines whether a patient’s full name (see column 366 in each of Figs. 12 and 13), HIPPA- compliant name (see column 474 of Fig. 15), or non-descript character string (also see column 474 of Fig. 15 and tile of room B26 in Fig. 17) is to be displayed on the corresponding dashboard client 50, 180.

[0211] Referring now to Fig. 17, examples of tiles having icons relating to status of bed exit / patient position monitoring (PPM) systems of respective beds 24 in a set of correspondingpatient rooms are provided. The tiles shown in Fig. 17 are labeled as corresponding to rooms B23, B24, B25, B26, B27, B28. The examples in Fig. 17 relate to various situations in which the bed exit / PPM system of the respective bed 24 is active (aka armed or enabled) and an alarm of some sort is occurring in the room. Some icons shown in Fig. 17 have been described hereinabove and those descriptions are still applicable and are not repeated. For example, the tiles of Fig. 17 corresponding to room B23, B25, and B26 include bed exit icon 262 which was discussed hereinabove as including an indicia 268 showing a patient exiting the bed 24 and an adjacent triangle indicia 270 indicating that the patient bed exit is considered to be an alert condition. However, in the Fig. 17 examples, icon 262 remains in the main portion of the respective tile and a bed exit / PPM alarm icon 494 is shown in the respective extension field 244 to indicate that the bed exit PPM system of the respective bed 24 is alarming. Extension field 244 is sometimes referred to as a “drawer” due to its resemblance of a drawer being pulled out from the main portion of the icon.

[0212] With continued reference to Fig. 17, patient risk zone 188 includes one or more of a skin risk icon 190’, a pulmonary risk icon 192’, and a falls risk icon 194’ which are substantially similar to icons 190, 192, 194 discussed hereinabove except that a box with rounded corners surrounds icons 190’, 192’, 194’ rather than the circle which surrounds icons 190, 192, 194. Thus, the discussion above of each of icons 190, 192, 194 is equally applicable to icons 190’, 192’, 194’ and is not repeated. However, patient risk zone 188 of the Fig. 17 tile examples is configured so that two or more of icons 190’, 192’, 194’, when present, appear horizontally in side-by-side relation (see particularly icons 190’, 192’, 194’ in the tile corresponding to room B28 in Fig. 17), whereas risk zone 188 of the previous examples is configured so that icons 190, 192, 194 are arranged in a vertical column (see, for example, icons 190, 192, 194 in the tile corresponding to room 3A of Fig. 7).

[0213] Some patient beds 24 include bed exit / PPM systems having different levels of sensitivities or modes for monitoring patient movement. In some embodiments, the bed exit / PPM system (or just “PPM system”) of bed 24 has three modes but any number of modes are contemplated by this disclosure. The three modes of the illustrative embodiment include a patient positioning mode, a patient edge mode, and an out-of-bed (OOB) mode. The patient positioning mode is the most sensitive and results in an alarm if the PPM system detects a small amount of patient movement such as the patient sitting up in bed 24 or rolling over toward one side of bed 24 or the other. The patient edge mode is an intermediate mode that results in an alarm if the PPM system detects a patient sitting on, or moving close to, the side edge bed 12 inpreparation for potentially exiting the bed 24. The OOB mode is the least sensitive mode and results in an alarm if the PPM system detects that the patient has transferred some or all of their weight off of the bed 24 during exiting the bed 24.

[0214] In Fig. 17, icon 262 is the icon that corresponds to the patient edge mode of the PPM system of the respective bed 24 being the selected mode. If the PPM system of the respective bed 24 is armed in the positioning mode, then an icon 496 is displayed in the corresponding tile as shown in Fig. 17 in connection with room B24. Icon 496 includes an indicia 498 showing a patient sitting up in the bed and if the patient has moved sufficiently to trigger an alert condition in the positioning mode, then a triangle indicia 500 is added to icon 496 to indicate the alert condition as shown in Fig. 17 with regard to room B24. If the PPM system of the respective bed 24 is armed in the OOB mode, then an icon 502 is displayed in the corresponding tile as shown in Fig. 17 in connection with room B27. Icon 502 includes an indicia 504 showing a patient standing up next to the bed and if the patient has moved off of the bed to trigger an alert condition in the OOB mode, then a triangle indicia 506 is added to icon 502 to indicate the alert condition as shown in Fig. 17 with regard to room B27. In each of the examples of rooms B23, B24, B25, B26, and B27 in Fig. 17, the PPM system is in an alarm condition as indicated by the triangle indicia 270, 500, 506 of the respective icons 262, 496, 502 and as further indicated by the alarm icon 494 appearing in the respective extension field 244.

[0215] According to some embodiments contemplated by the present disclosure, if the PPM system of a given bed 24 is armed in the positioning mode or the edge mode, then the bed exit alert icon shown in the respective tile, or on the corresponding row of the table if the dashboard is operating in the table format, will dynamically change during the patient’s bed exiting process with respect to the bed 24 to reflect the patient’s exiting position. For example, if the PPM system is armed in the positioning mode, icon 496 will be displayed when the patient initially sits up in the bed 24 or otherwise moves by the requisite amount to generate an alert in the positioning mode. Then, once the patient moves to the edge of the bed 24, the icon 496 will change to icon 262 to represent the edge sitting status of the patient. Thereafter, once the patient transfers the threshold amount of weight off of the bed 24 to stand up next to the bed 24, icon 262 will change to icon 502. If the patient moves back onto the bed, the icons will dynamically change in a similar manner but in the reverse order. That is, icon 502 will change to icon 262 if the patient sits back down onto the edge of the bed 24 and then, icon 262 will change to icon 596 if the patient is sitting up in bed 24 near the middle of the bed 24 with their feet back on the bed. If the patient lies back down on the bed so as to no longer violate thepositioning mode criteria, then icon 200 is shown (see icon 200 in the tile corresponding to room B28 in Fig. 17).

[0216] If the PPM system is armed in the edge mode, then icon 262 changes to icon 502 during the patient’s bed exiting process and also, from icon 502 back to icon 262 if the patient sits back down on the edge of the bed 24. Icon 496 is not displayed if the PPM system is armed in the edge mode and the patient gets back into bed and lies down but icon 200 will be shown once the patient no longer violates the edge mode criteria while returning to the bed. Thus, when armed in the most sensitive positioning mode, the present disclosure contemplates a dynamic adjustment of the icons 200, 262, 496, 502 to reflect the patient movements during egress from bed 24 and ingress onto bed 24 when the respective PPM system is armed. Similarly, when armed in the intermediate sensitivity edge mode, the present disclosure contemplates a dynamic adjustment of the PPM icons 200, 262, 502 to reflect the patient movements during egress from bed 24 and ingress onto bed 24 when the respective PPM system is armed. This dynamic adjustment occurs when status boards / dashboards 50 are operating to display status information in the table format and in the tile format.

[0217] Still referring to Fig. 17, the extension fields 244 for rooms B24, B25, and B28 each includes a bed-not-low icon 508 which is similar to bed-not-low icon 286 discussed hereinabove. Thus, like icon 286, icon 508 indicates that the upper frame of bed 24 in the corresponding room is not in its lowest position. Icon 508, therefore, is simply an alternative to icon 286 for indicating the same bed-not-low alert condition. The extension field 244 for room B25 in Fig. 17 includes siderail status icon 260 to indicate that one or more of the siderails of the corresponding bed 24 have been lowered in an undesired manner. Icon 260 in Fig. 17 is rotated by 90 degrees as compared to icon 260 shown, for example, in Fig. 4, but otherwise these icons 260 are the same. Thus, the description above of icon 260 is equally applicable to icon 260 shown in Fig. 17. The extension field 244 for room B27 in Fig. 17 includes a HOB angle alarm icon 510 which is similar to HOB icon 292 discussed herein above. Thus, like icon 292, icon 510 indicates that the HOB angle of the head section of bed 24 violates a threshold angle condition. In Fig. 17, the HOB angle of 38° is shown as part of icon 510 to indicate the angle at which the head section of bed 24 is currently raised. In the Fig. 17 example, therefore, the threshold condition is an angle that is greater than 38°, such as 40 or 45 degrees, in order for a HOB angle of 38° to be considered an alarm condition.

[0218] Some beds 24 include one or more vital signs sensors for detecting a patient’s heartrate (HR) and / or respiration rate (RR) as mentioned above. For example, such one or morevital signs sensor(s) are supported on a mattress support deck of the patient bed 24 beneath a mattress of the bed 24. In particular, the vital signs sensor(s) is / are supported on the head section of the mattress support deck beneath the portion of the mattress that supports the patient’ s torso. In connection with the CENTRELLA® Smart+ beds mentioned hereinabove, a vital signs sensor of this type is referred to as providing the bed 24 with contact free, continuous monitoring (CFCM). Accordingly, with regard to rooms B27 and B28 in Fig. 17, a vitals sensor icon 512 (aka a CFCM icon 512) is provided adjacent to the respective bed icon 200 to indicate that the bed 24 is equipped with at least one vital signs sensor. The illustrative CFCM icon has a heart indicia over a lungs indicia to indicate that the vital signs sensor detects both the patient’s HR and RR.

[0219] The extension field 244 for room B28 in Fig. 17 also includes lungs icon 236 with down arrow 240 to indicate that the illustrative RR of 18 breaths per minute is below a RR threshold, and heart icon 242 with down arrow 240 to indicate that the illustrative HR of 42 beats per minute is below a HR threshold. Extension field 244 for room B28 also includes a brake-not-set icon 514 to indicate that brakes of casters of the respective bed 25 are released or unbraked, and an alarm silenced icon 516 to indicate that an alarm occurring on the respective bed 24 has been silenced, typically by a caregiver pressing one or more buttons on a siderail of the bed or on the bed GUI, to silence an audible alarm from sounding. In the illustrative example, the main portion of the tile for room B28 in Fig. 17 further includes battery status indicator 256.

[0220] A color-coded alert status field or bar 518 is shown in each tile of Fig. 17 to provide a visual indication that at least one alarm of some sort, is occurring in the respective patient room. Alert status bar 518 is provided between the main portion of the tile and the respective extension field 244. Alert status bar 518 is color-coded red, blue, orange, amber, or yellow, for example, to draw the viewer’s attention to the rooms in which alert conditions are occurring. Depending upon the type and / or severity of the occurring alarm(s) in the respective room, bars 518 are color-coded differently such as being red for most severe requiring immediate attention, yellow for less severe, blue for equipment error or malfunction requiring service, and yellow for less sever alert conditions that do not necessarily require immediate attention.

[0221] Referring now to Fig. 18, examples of tiles having icons relating to the status of the CFCM sensors of respective beds 24 in a set of corresponding patient rooms are provided. Each icon shown in each tile and extension field 244 in Fig. 18 has been described hereinaboveand so the above descriptions are equally applicable to Fig. 18. In the tile corresponding to room Cl in Fig. 18, the CFCM icon 512 is displayed in bright color to indicate that the CFCM feature of the respective bed 24 is turned on. In some embodiments, the heart indicia of icon 512 is colored red and the lungs indicia of icon 412 is colored blue. In the tile corresponding to room C2 in Fig. 18, the CFCM icon 512 is grayed out to indicate that the CFCM feature of the respective bed is turned off. Given the black and white nature of Fig. 18, however, icon 512 is drawn with bold lines in room Cl to indicate the CFCM feature being turned on, and icon 512 is drawn with thin lines to indicate the CFCM feature being turned off. The lack of extension fields 244 with regard to rooms Cl and C2 indicates that there are no alarms occurring in those rooms.With continued reference to Fig. 18, the tile corresponding to room C3 shows that the CFCM feature of the corresponding bed is in an alarm condition as indicated by the presence of extension field 244. In the illustrative example, the patient’s RR of 18 breaths per minute is below a threshold as indicated by down arrow 240 adjacent to lungs icon 236, and the patient’s HR of 122 beats per minute is above a threshold as indicated by up arrow 238 adjacent to heart icon 242. The tile corresponding to room C5 in Fig. 18 has wrench icon 348 in the respective extension field to indicate that the CFCM sensor of the respective bed 24 is disabled and may require service or replacement.Fig. 18 also shows an alternative room C5 tile and extension field 244 in which wrench icon 348 and electrical system fault icon 405 are shown to indicate that the CFCM vital signs sensor of the respective bed has expired. For example, either the useful life of the vital signs sensor has expired due to age or the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation due to expiration or termination of a license to use the vital signs sensor. In this regard, a remote computer of system 10 (e.g., see any of the computers, terminals, servers, gateways, etc. of Figs. 1 and 2) is configured to monitor whether the license to use the corresponding vital signs sensor is expired or unexpired. The tile corresponding to room C6 in Fig. 18 represents the situation in which no CFCM sensor is provided on the respective bed 24 and therefore, no CFCM icon 512 appears in the tile for room C6.

[0222] Referring now to Fig. 19, tiles having examples of different numbers of alert conditions in respective patient rooms relating to bed status and patient status are provided. Each icon shown in each tile and drawer or extension field 244 in Fig. 19 has been described hereinabove and so the above descriptions are equally applicable to Fig. 19 and are not repeated. In the tile corresponding to room A841 in Fig. 19, a single alert condition indicatedby brake-not-set icon 514 is shown in extension field 244. Thus, when a single alert is occurring in a particular room, the alert icon is centered within extension field 244 between the opposite sides thereof. In the tile corresponding to room A842 in Fig. 19, two alert icons are shown in extension field 244, in particular, bed-not-low icon 508 and HOB angle alarm icon 510. Icons 508, 510 are shown in side-by-side relation in a single horizontal row within extension field 244 for room A842.

[0223] With continued reference to Fig. 19, three alert icons are shown in extension field 244 in connection with the tile corresponding to room A843, in particular, siderail alert icon 260, bed-not-low icon 508, and HOB angle alarm icon 510. Icons 260, 508, 510 are shown in side-by-side relation in a single horizontal row within extension field 244 for room A843. In the tile corresponding to room A844, four alert icons are shown in extension field 244, in particular, siderail alert icon 260, bed-not-low icon 508, HOB angle alarm icon 510, and alarm silence icon 516. Icons 260, 508 are shown in side-by-side relation in a first horizontal row within extension field 244 for room A844 and icons 510, 516 are shown in side-by-side relation in a second horizontal row within extension field 244 for room A844.

[0224] In connection with the tile corresponding to room A846 in Fig. 19, more than four alerts are occurring in the room. In the illustrative example, five alert icons are shown in extension field 244 for room A846 plus the text “+2” to indicate that two additional alerts are also occurring in room A846 but icons for the two additional alerts are not depicted due to a lack of space within the extension field. The five alert icons depicted in extension field 244 for room A846 are siderail alert icon 260, bed-not-low icon 508, HOB angle alarm icon 510, brake- not-set icon 514, and alarm silence icon 516. Icons 260, 508, 516 are shown in side-by-side relation in a first horizontal row within extension field 244 for room A846 and icons 510, 514 and the text string “+2” are shown in side-by-side relation in a second horizontal row within extension field 244 for room A846. In some embodiments, the order in which alert icons appear in extension field 244 for any given room is based on order of occurrence of the alarm condition within the corresponding room. In other embodiments, the order in which alert icons appear in extension field 244 for any given room is based on a hierarchy of alarm conditions with higher priority alarm icons being shown before the alert icons for any lower priority alarms.

[0225] Still referring to Fig. 19, the tiles corresponding to rooms A844 and A846 each include the text, “Area for Future Notifications.” This text is merely informational in nature in Fig. 19 to indicate that there is room within the tile for other notifications (e.g., icons) to appear.Tn practice, this text is not actually shown in any tiles. In the tile corresponding to room A852 in Fig. 19, the CFCM alert icons 236, 242 and respective arrows 238, 240 are shown in extension field 244 to indicate that one or more vital signs of the patient violate a threshold condition. The depicted conditions in extension field 244 for room A852 in Fig. 19 are the same as those discussed above in connection with the conditions shown in extension field 244 for room C3 of Fig. 18 and so, are not further discussed. Due to the amount of space taken up by icons 236, 242 and arrows 238, 240, as well as the numerical data for HR and RR, in the extension field 244 of room A852, there is not room for any other alert icons in the same row as icons 236, 242 as indicated by the text beneath the extension field 244 for room A852 in Fig. 19.

[0226] Referring now to Figs. 20 and 21, a one-row example of tiles is shown on dashboard 50 in Fig. 20 and a two-row example of tiles is shown on dashboard 50 in Fig. 21. Each row of tiles in the illustrative examples of Figs. 20 and 21 includes seven tiles, but other numbers of tiles greater than or less than seven is within the scope of the present disclosure, but inclusion of more than seven tiles in a row requires a size of each tile to be reduced as compared to the given seven- tile example. The icons appearing in the tiles of Figs. 20 and 21 have, in large part, been described hereinabove and such descriptions do not need to be repeated. Icons not previously described herein are described below.

[0227] Dashboard 50 of each of Figs. 20 and 21 includes thumbnails 248 that are similar to those discussed above in connection with Figs. 3-7. However, the thumbnails 248 of Figs. 20 and 21 show the room number therein for any rooms in which any alarm conditions (aka alert conditions) are occurring. Furthermore, color coding is used in thumbnails 248 of Figs. 20 and 21 similar to that described above in connection with thumbnails 248 of Figs. 3-7. The thumbnails 248 of Figs. 20 and 21 are clustered into unit groupings with a unit heading 520 located above each grouping. A spacing between thumbnails 248 of each unit grouping is slightly larger than the spacing between thumbnails 248 within each unit in some embodiments. In Figs. 20 and 21, for example, the unit headings 520 are West 4-1, West 4-2, West 4-3, West 4-4, and West 4-5 just to give one arbitrary example. Of course, the names of various units within any given healthcare facility are at the discretion of the operators of the facility.Grouping various subsets of thumbnails 248 other than by unit, such as by a floor or a wing of a healthcare facility, or by patient type (e.g., pediatric patients, maternity patients, cardiac patients, and so forth) is also within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0228] In the illustrative Fig. 20 example, a progress bar 522 is provided above the subset of thumbnails 248 corresponding to the tiles of the unit that is currently being shown on dashboard 50. In particular, the tiles for rooms A423, A424, A425, A426, A427, A428, and A429 of the West 4-1 unit are being displayed in Fig. 20 and therefore, progress bar 522 appears beneath unit heading 520 for West 4-1 and above the corresponding subset of thumbnails 248 of the West 4-1 unit. Progress bar 522 fills in from left to right above the thumbnails 248 of the displayed unit to provide a visual indication of how much longer the tiles of the rooms of the unit will remain displayed on dashboard 50 before the tiles of another unit replace those that are currently being displayed.

[0229] In Fig. 20, a dashed extension 524 extending from the right end of progress bar 522 diagrammatically illustrates how much further the progress bar 522 has left to go before the current tiles on dashboard 50 disappear and are replaced with the tiles of another unit. For example, once progress bar 522 advances to fill dashed extension 524, the tiles corresponding to the rooms of the West 4-1 unit disappear and the tiles corresponding to the rooms of the West 4-2 unit become displayed on dashboard 50 and a new progress bar 522 above the subset of thumbnails 248 of the West 4-2 unit and beneath the West 4-2 heading 520 appears on dashboard 50. Thus, the displayed tiles on dashboard 50 cycle from those of the West 4-1 unit, to those of the West 4-2 unit, then to those of the West 4-3 unit, and so forth. Furthermore, the progress bar 522 moves to the corresponding position between the respective unit heading 520 and the associated subset of thumbnails 248 based on the unit having its tiles currently displayed on dashboard 50.

[0230] The amount of time it takes for the progress bar 522 to fill in completely is a fixed amount of time (e.g., about 15 seconds or about 30 seconds just to give a couple arbitrary examples) in some embodiments. In other embodiments, the amount of time it takes for the progress bar 522 to fill in varies and is based on the amount of information displayed on dashboard 50 in the corresponding tiles and any associated extension fields 244. Thus, the more icons and other information appearing in the displayed tiles, the longer it takes for the corresponding progress bar 522 to fill in to give caregivers more time to mentally process the information being shown.

[0231] Referring now to Fig. 21, the tiles of two units, illustratively the West 4-1 unit and the West 4-2 unit, are displayed on dashboard 50 with the tiles corresponding to the rooms of the first unit being shown in the first row and the tiles corresponding to the rooms of the second unit being shown in the second row. In particular, the tiles for rooms A423, A424,A425, A426, A427, A428, and A429 of the West 4-1 unit are displayed in the first row of Fig. 21 and the tiles for rooms A430, A431, A432, A433, A434, A435, and A436 of the West 4-2 unit are displayed in the second row of Fig. 21. Because two unit’s worth of tiles are being displayed on dashboard 50 of Fig. 21, an elongated progress bar 522’ that bridges across two unit’s worth of thumbnails 248 is provided to show the amount of time that corresponding tiles of the two units will remain displayed on dashboard 20 before being replaced by the tiles of another group of two units. Similar to progress bar 522, progress bar 522’ fills in from left to right above the subset of thumbnails 248 of the two displayed units to provide a visual indication of how much longer the tiles of the rooms of the two units will remain displayed on dashboard 50 before the tiles of another pair of units replace those that are currently being displayed.

[0232] In Fig. 21, a dashed extension 524’ extending from the right end of progress bar 522’ diagrammatically illustrates how much further the progress bar 522’ has left to go before the current tiles on dashboard 50 disappear and are replaced with the tiles of another pair of units. For example, once progress bar 522’ advances to fill dashed extension 524’, the tiles corresponding to the rooms of the West 4-1 and West 4-2 units disappear and the tiles corresponding to the rooms of the West 4-3 and West 4-4 units become displayed on dashboard 50 and a new progress bar 522’ above the subset of thumbnails 248 of the West 4-3 and West 4- 4 units and beneath the West 4-2 and West 4-3 headings 520 appears on dashboard 50.

[0233] The amount of time it takes for the progress bar 522’ to fill in completely is a fixed amount of time (e.g., about 30 seconds or about 60 seconds just to give a couple arbitrary examples) in some embodiments. In other embodiments, the amount of time it takes for the progress bar 522’ to fill in varies and is based on the amount of information displayed on dashboard 50 in the corresponding tiles and any associated extension fields 244. Thus, the more icons and other information appearing in the displayed tiles, the longer it takes for the corresponding progress bar 522’ to fill in to give caregivers more time to mentally process the information being shown. In general, if two rows of tiles are displayed on dashboard 50, like is shown in Fig. 21, the amount of time it takes for progress bar 522’ to file in is about twice the amount of time that it takes for progress bar 522 to fill in when only one row of tiles is displayed on dashboard 50, like shown in Fig. 20. The fill-in time for progress bars 522, 522’, again, may be dependent upon how much information is being displayed on dashboard 50 in the corresponding tiles.

[0234] In Fig. 20, the tiles corresponding to rooms A423 and A425 each includes a chair position icon 408’ therein which is similar to icon 408 discussed above and which indicates that the respective bed 24 in the corresponding room is in a chair position. Also in Fig. 20, the tile corresponding to room A428 includes an empty bed icon 526 therein which indicates that no patient is assigned to room A428 but that the corresponding bed is successfully connected to network 12. Still further in Fig. 20, the tile corresponding to room A429 has an unconnected bed icon 528 therein to indicate that a bed in the room is not connected to network 12. In Fig. 21, the tile corresponding to room A436 has a bed-not-in-room icon 530, in the shape of an “X,” therein which indicates that there is no bed in room A436. The rest of the icons appearing in the tiles of Fig. 21 have each been described hereinabove and therefore, the same descriptions are applicable and are not repeated.

[0235] Based on the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the present disclosure contemplates a system 10 that operates to aggregate healthcare data points, as well as equipment status, and visually display the information to caregivers. The visualized format on dashboard clients 50, 180, as shown and described herein, helps caregivers streamline their workflow and quickly prioritize near term healthcare tasks and procedures. The contemplated visual displays also allow caregivers to efficiently understand equipment status, device alerting status, and other related patient health information at a glance. The displayed information is harvested or gathered from multiple sources of origination such as nurse call system 14, EMR system 16, ADT system 18, patient beds 24, patient care devices 26, and mobile devices 114. Thus, system 10 improves caregiver workflow and reduces the cognitive burden on caregivers by presenting relevant healthcare data on a single display and in a configurable format.

[0236] Further examples of the present disclosure, including examples of disclosed inventions, can be described with reference to following numbered clauses:

[0237] Clause 1. A nurse call system comprising a nurse call server configured to receive device status data originating from patient care devices and patient risk data input by caregivers or calculated based on at least some of the status data, a display coupled to the nurse call server to display at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data, the nurse call server operable to command the display to show the device status data and the patient risk data on the display in a table format in which room identifiers of patient rooms of a healthcare facility correspond to rows of a table with the rows extending horizontally in the table with the device status data and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table with each row of the table having fields corresponding to the respective columns, the nurse callserver operable to command the display to show a lesser amount of the device status data in a tile format in which tiles corresponding to a subset of the patient rooms are displayed horizontally side-by-side on the display, wherein each tile has a patient risk zone in which one or more patient risk icons relating to the patient risk data are displayed, wherein each tile has a device status zone in which one or more device status icons relating to the device status data are displayed, and an administration computer coupled to the nurse call server and operable to select which device status data is shown in the columns of the table and which device status data has corresponding device status icons shown in at least some of the device status zones of each tile.

[0238] Clause 2. The nurse call system of clause 1, wherein the device status zones of each tile includes a vital signs zone and the status data includes patient vital signs data that is displayed in the vital signs zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding patient room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount.

[0239] Clause 3. The nurse call system of clause 2, wherein the vital signs data includes heart rate, a heart icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0240] Clause 4. The nurse call system of clause 2, wherein the vital signs data includes respiration rate, a lungs icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0241] Clause 5. The nurse call system of clause 2, wherein the device status zones of each tile further includes a bed status zone and the status data includes bed status data that is displayed in the bed status zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room.

[0242] Clause 6. The nurse call system of clause 5, wherein the bed status data is displayed using bed status icons that include icons indicating one or more of the following: bed exit system status, a head section of the bed being above a threshold angle, the head section of the bed being below the threshold angle, caster brake status, siderail position status, a mattressoperating in an alternating pressure mode, the mattress of the bed operating in a lateral rotation mode, and the mattress of the bed operating in a percussion and vibration (P&V) mode.

[0243] Clause 7. The nurse call system of clause 1, wherein the one or more patient risk icons include one or more of the following: a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is a falls risk, a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pressure sores, and a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pulmonary complications.

[0244] Clause 8. The nurse call system of clause 1, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data and wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data.

[0245] Clause 9. The nurse call system of clause 8, wherein each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition is occurring is displayed so as to be larger than each of the tiles corresponding to patient rooms in which no alert condition is occurring.

[0246] Clause 10. The nurse call system of clause 8, wherein an extension field is appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition is occurring and the extension field provides additional information regarding the alert condition.

[0247] Clause 11. The nurse call system of clause 10, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

[0248] Clause 12. The nurse call system of clause 10, wherein if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions are shown simultaneously in the extension field.

[0249] Clause 13. The nurse call system of clause 10, wherein the additional information regarding the alert condition comprises an alert icon.

[0250] Clause 14. The nurse call system of clause 13, wherein the alert icon comprises one or more of the following: patient out of position icon, patient bed exit icon, a head section icon indicating that the head section of the bed is below a threshold angle, caster brake icon indicating that one or more of the bed casters have been unbraked, a bed not low icon indicating that an upper frame of the bed is not in its lowest position, a mattress error icon indicating that a mattress of the bed is not operating properly, siderail down icon indicating that one or more bed siderails are not in their raised positions, a bed disconnection icon indicating aloss of connectivity of the bed to alternating current (AC) power or to the nurse call system, and a bed service icon indicating that at least one component of the bed requires service.

[0251] Clause 15. The nurse call system of clause 1, wherein the device status data includes bed status data and patient vital signs data, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by any of the device status data, wherein the at least the portion each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data, and wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a third color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the vital signs monitor status data.

[0252] Clause 16. The nurse call system of clause 1, wherein the display displays a user selectable field that is selectable to switch between the table format and the tile format.

[0253] Clause 17. The nurse call system of clause 1, wherein each tile shown in the tile format is selectable by a caregiver to navigate to a comprehensive patient data screen that shows more patient data than is shown in the tile and table formats.

[0254] Clause 18. The nurse call system of clause 17, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays data points for a plurality of previous readings of patient temperature, patient weight, heart rate, and respiration rate for a patient in the patient room corresponding to the selected tile.

[0255] Clause 19. The nurse call system of clause 17, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays numerical values for one or more of the following patient risk scores: a pressure score, a falls risk score, a mobility score, a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS).

[0256] Clause 20. The nurse call system of clause 17, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays a trending graph showing trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’s heart rate and respiration rate.

[0257] Clause 21. The nurse call system of clause 17, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays the most recent reading for each of the following of the corresponding patient: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, blood pressure, and temperature.

[0258] Clause 22. The nurse call system of clause 1, wherein, in the tile format, a series of thumbnails corresponding to the patient rooms in a unit or ward of the healthcare facility are shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles, a number of thumbnails in theseries of thumbnails being greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile, and wherein the display includes a context box surrounding a subset of thumbnails of the series of thumbnails with the subset of thumbnails corresponding to the tiles currently being displayed on the display.

[0259] Clause 23. The nurse call system of clause 22, wherein the context box cycles from surrounding a first subset of thumbnails to surrounding a second subset of thumbnails at a cycling time which varies depending upon the amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the first subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

[0260] Clause 24. The nurse call system of clause 22, wherein each tile is at least four times larger than each thumbnail.

[0261] Clause 25. The nurse call system of clause 22, wherein at least four times more thumbnails are shown on the display than the number of the tiles being shown.

[0262] Clause 26. The nurse call system of clause 22, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and wherein the thumbnails within the context box are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

[0263] Clause 27. The nurse call system of clause 22, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.

[0264] Clause 28. The nurse call system of clause 22, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the thumbnails are devoid of room numbers.

[0265] Clause 29. The nurse call system of clause 1, wherein the patient care devices from which the device status originates comprises one or more of the following: a patient bed, a heart rate monitor, a respiration rate monitor, a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram (EKG) device, an electroencephalogram (EEG) device, an IV pump, a patient lift, or a hemodialysis machine.

[0266] Clause 30. The nurse call system of clause 1, wherein the nurse call server receives at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data from an EMR server, an ADT server, and / or some other enterprise server.

[0267] Clause 31 . The nurse call system of clause 1 , further comprising a portable wireless device carried by a caregiver, the portable wireless device being operable to display one or more of the tiles corresponding to the patient rooms on a display screen of the portable wireless device.

[0268] Clause 32. A nurse call system comprising a nurse call server configured to receive device status data originating from patient care devices and patient risk data input by caregivers or calculated based on at least some of the status data, a display coupled to the nurse call server to display at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data, the nurse call server operable to command the display to show only a portion of the device status data in a tile format in which tiles corresponding to a subset of the patient rooms in a unit or ward of a healthcare facility are displayed horizontally side-by-side on the display, wherein each tile has a patient risk zone in which one or more patient risk icons relating to the patient risk data are displayed, wherein each tile has a device status zone in which one or more device status icons relating to the device status data are displayed, wherein, in the tile format, a series of thumbnails corresponding to the patient rooms in the unit or ward of the healthcare facility are shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles, a number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails being greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile, and an administration computer coupled to the nurse call server and operable to select which device status data has corresponding device status icons shown in at least some of the device status zones of each tile.

[0269] Clause 33. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein, in the tile format, the display includes a context box surrounding a subset of the thumbnails of the series of thumbnails with the subset of thumbnails surrounded by the context box corresponding to the tiles currently being displayed on the display.

[0270] Clause 34. The nurse call system of clause 33, wherein the context box cycles from surrounding a first subset of thumbnails to surrounding a second subset of thumbnails at a cycling time which varies depending upon the amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the first subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

[0271] Clause 35. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein each tile is at least four times larger than each thumbnail.

[0272] Clause 36. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein at least four times more thumbnails are shown on the display than the number of the tiles being shown.

[0273] Clause 37. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein the series of thumbnails are shown on the display beneath the tiles.

[0274] Clause 38. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and wherein the thumbnails within the context box are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

[0275] Clause 39. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.

[0276] Clause 40. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the thumbnails are devoid of room numbers.

[0277] Clause 41. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein the nurse call server is operable to display the device status data and the patient risk data on the display in a table format in which room identifiers of patient rooms of a healthcare facility correspond to rows of a table with the rows extending horizontally in the table with the device status data and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table with each row of the table having fields corresponding to the respective columns, and wherein a greater amount of the device status data is displayed on the display in the table format than in the tile format.

[0278] Clause 42. The nurse call system of clause 41, wherein the administration computer is operable to select which device status data is shown in the columns of the table.

[0279] Clause 43. The nurse call system of clause 41, wherein the display displays a user selectable field that is selectable to switch between the table format and the tile format.

[0280] 4 Clause 4. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein the device status zones of each tile includes a vital signs zone and the status data includes patient vital signs data that is displayed in the vital signs zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding patient room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount.

[0281] Clause 45. The nurse call system of clause 44, wherein the vital signs data includes heart rate, a heart icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate increases by an amount that isequal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0282] Clause 46. The nurse call system of clause 44, wherein the vital signs data includes respiration rate, a lungs icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0283] Clause 47. The nurse call system of clause 44, wherein the device status zones of each tile further includes a bed status zone and the status data includes bed status data that is displayed in the bed status zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room.

[0284] Clause 48. The nurse call system of clause 47, wherein the bed status data is displayed using bed status icons that include icons indicating one or more of the following: bed exit system status, a head section of the bed being above a threshold angle, the head section of the be being below the threshold angle, caster brake status, siderail position status, a mattress operating in an alternating pressure mode, the mattress of the bed operating in a lateral rotation mode, and the mattress of the bed operating in a percussion and vibration (P&V) mode.

[0285] Clause 49. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein the one or more patient risk icons include one or more of the following: a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is a falls risk, a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pressure sores, and a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pulmonary complications.

[0286] Clause 50. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data and wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data.

[0287] Clause 51. The nurse call system of clause 50, wherein each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition is occurring is displayed so as to be larger than each of the tiles corresponding to patient rooms in which no alert condition is occurring.

[0288] Clause 52. The nurse call system of clause 50, wherein an extension field is appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition is occurring and the extension field provides additional information regarding the alert condition.

[0289] Clause 53. The nurse call system of clause 52, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

[0290] Clause 54. The nurse call system of clause 52, wherein if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions are shown simultaneously in the extension field.

[0291] Clause 55. The nurse call system of clause 52, wherein the additional information regarding the alert conditions comprises an alert icon.

[0292] Clause 56. The nurse call system of clause 55, wherein the alert icon comprises one or more of the following: patient out of position icon, patient bed exit icon, a head section icon indicating that the head section of the bed is below a threshold angle, caster brake icon indicating that one or more of the bed casters have been unbraked, a bed not low icon indicating that an upper frame of the bed is not in its lowest position, a mattress error icon indicating that a mattress of the bed is not operating properly, siderail down icon indicating that one or more bed siderails are not in their raised positions, a bed disconnection icon indicating a loss of connectivity of the bed to alternating current (AC) power or to the nurse call system, and a bed service icon indicating that at least one component of the bed requires service.

[0293] Clause 57. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein the device status data includes bed status data and patient vital signs data, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by any of the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data, and wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a third color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the vital signs monitor status data.

[0294] Clause 58. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein each tile shown in the tile format is selectable by a caregiver to navigate to a comprehensive patient data screen that shows more patient data than is shown in the tile and table formats.

[0295] Clause 59. The nurse call system of clause 58, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays data points for a plurality of previous readings of patienttemperature, patient weight, heart rate, and respiration rate for a patient in the patient room corresponding to the selected tile.

[0296] Clause 60. The nurse call system of clause 58, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays numerical values for one or more of the following patient risk scores: a pressure score, a falls risk score, a mobility score, a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS).

[0297] Clause 61. The nurse call system of clause 58, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays a trending graph showing trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’s heart rate and respiration rate.

[0298] Clause 62. The nurse call system of clause 58, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays the most recent reading for each of the following of the corresponding patient: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, blood pressure, and temperature.

[0299] Clause 63. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein the patient care devices from which the device status originates comprises one or more of the following: a patient bed, a heart rate monitor, a respiration rate monitor, a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram (EKG) device, an electroencephalogram (EEG) device, an IV pump, a patient lift, or a hemodialysis machine.

[0300] Clause 64. The nurse call system of clause 32, wherein the nurse call server receives at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data from an EMR server, an ADT server, and / or some other enterprise server.

[0301] Clause 65. The nurse call system of clause 32, further comprising a portable wireless device carried by a caregiver, the portable wireless device being operable to display one or more of the tiles corresponding to the patient rooms on a display screen of the portable wireless device.

[0302] Clause 66. The nurse call system of any of preceding clauses 1-65, wherein the administration computer is situated at a master nurse station and also serves as a master nurse station computer that is operable to establish a voice communication channel to speak with patients located in the patient rooms.

[0303] Clause 67. A healthcare information system comprising a plurality of patient beds located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a plurality of vital signs monitors located in at least some of the rooms, a nurse call server configured to receive bed status data originating from the plurality of patient beds and to receive vital signs data originating from theplurality of vital signs monitors, the nurse call server also receiving patient risk data input by caregivers or calculated based on at least some of the vital signs data, a display coupled to the nurse call server and commanded by the nurse call server to display tiles corresponding to a subset of the rooms in a unit or ward of a healthcare facility, the tiles being displayed horizontally side-by-side on the display, each tile being configured to display simultaneously one or more bed status icons corresponding to at least some of the bed status data, one or more vital signs icons corresponding to at least some of the vital signs data, and one or more patient risk icons corresponding to at least some of the patient risk data, wherein a number of bed status icons that can be displayed simultaneously is limited to a threshold number, and an administration computer coupled to the nurse call server and operable to establish a bed status data prioritization to thereby prioritize which bed status icons take prioritization over other bed status icons for display in the tile for the respective room.

[0304] Clause 68. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein the display is also commanded by the nurse call server to display a series of thumbnails corresponding to the patient rooms in the unit or ward of the healthcare facility to be shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles, a number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails being greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile.

[0305] Clause 69. The healthcare information system of clause 68, wherein the nurse call server further commands the display to show a context box surrounding a subset of the thumbnails of the series of thumbnails with the subset of thumbnails surrounded by the context box corresponding to the tiles currently being displayed on the display.

[0306] Clause 70. The healthcare information system of clause 69, wherein the context box cycles from surrounding a first subset of thumbnails to surrounding a second subset of thumbnails at a cycling time which varies depending upon the amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the first subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

[0307] Clause 71. The healthcare information system of clause 68, wherein each tile is at least four times larger than each thumbnail.

[0308] Clause 72. The healthcare information system of clause 68, wherein at least four times more thumbnails are shown on the display than the number of the tiles being shown.

[0309] Clause 73. The healthcare information system of clause 68, wherein the series of thumbnails are shown on the display beneath the tiles.

[0310] Clause 74. The healthcare information system of clause 68, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the bed status data and the vital signs data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data or the vital signs data, and wherein the thumbnails within the context box are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

[0311] Clause 75. The healthcare information system of clause 68, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.

[0312] Clause 76. The healthcare information system of clause 68, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the thumbnails are devoid of room numbers.

[0313] Clause 77. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein the nurse call server is operable to display the bed status data, the vital signs data, and the patient risk data on the display in a table format in which room identifiers of patient rooms of a healthcare facility correspond to rows of a table with the rows extending horizontally in the table with the bed status data, vital signs data, and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table with each row of the table having fields corresponding to the respective columns, and wherein a greater amount of the bed status data is displayed on the display in the table than in the tiles.

[0314] Clause 78. The healthcare information system of clause 77, wherein the administration computer is operable to select which bed status data is shown in the columns of the table.

[0315] Clause 79. The healthcare information system of clause 77, wherein the display displays a user selectable field that is selectable to switch the display between showing the tiles and showing the table.

[0316] Clause 80. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein the vital signs data is displayed in the tile of a corresponding room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount.

[0317] Clause 81. The healthcare information system of clause 80, wherein the vital signs data includes heart rate, a heart icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate increases by anamount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0318] Clause 82. The healthcare information system of clause 80, wherein the vital signs data includes respiration rate, a lungs icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

[0319] Clause 83. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein the bed status icons indicate one or more of the following: bed exit system status, a head section of the bed being above a threshold angle, the head section of the be being below the threshold angle, caster brake status, a mattress operating in an alternating pressure mode, siderail position status, a mattress of the bed being in a lateral rotation mode, and the mattress of the bed being in an alternating pressure mode.

[0320] Clause 84. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein the one or more patient risk icons include one or more of the following: a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is a falls risk, a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pressure sores, and a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pulmonary complications.

[0321] Clause 85. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the bed status data and the vital signs data and wherein the at least the portion each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data or the vital signs data.

[0322] Clause 86. The healthcare information system of clause 85, wherein each tile corresponding to a respective room in which an alert condition is occurring is displayed so as to be larger than each of the tiles corresponding to rooms in which no alert condition is occurring.

[0323] Clause 87. The healthcare information system of clause 85, wherein an extension field is appended to each tile corresponding to a room in which an alert condition is occurring and the extension field provides additional information regarding the alert condition.

[0324] Clause 88. The healthcare information system of clause 87, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

[0325] Clause 89. The healthcare information system of clause 87, wherein if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions are shown simultaneously in the extension field.

[0326] Clause 90. The healthcare information system of clause 87, wherein the additional information regarding the alert conditions comprises an alert icon.

[0327] Clause 91. The healthcare information system of clause 90, wherein the alert icon comprises one or more of the following: patient out of position icon, patient bed exit icon, a head section icon indicating that the head section of the bed is below a threshold angle, caster brake icon indicating that one or more of the bed casters have been unbraked, a bed not low icon indicating that an upper frame of the bed is not in its lowest position, a mattress error icon indicating that a mattress of the bed is not operating properly, siderail down icon indicating that one or more bed siderails are not in their raised positions, a bed disconnection icon indicating a loss of connectivity of the bed to alternating current (AC) power or to the nurse call system, and a bed service icon indicating that at least one component of the bed requires service.

[0328] Clause 92. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by any of the bed status data and vital signs data, wherein each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data, and wherein each tile is displayed in a third color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the vital signs data.

[0329] Clause 93. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein each tile shown on the display is selectable by a caregiver to navigate to a comprehensive patient data screen that shows more patient data than is shown in the respective tile.

[0330] Clause 94. The healthcare information system of clause 93, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays data points for a plurality of previous readings of patient temperature, patient weight, heart rate, and respiration rate for a patient in the patient room corresponding to the selected tile.

[0331] Clause 95. The healthcare information system of clause 93, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays numerical values for one or more of the following patient risk scores: a pressure score, a falls risk score, a mobility score, a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS).

[0332] Clause 96. The healthcare information system of clause 93, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays a trending graph showing trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’ s heart rate and respiration rate.

[0333] Clause 97. The healthcare information system of clause 93, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays the most recent reading for each of the following of the corresponding patient: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, blood pressure, and temperature.

[0334] Clause 98. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein the vital signs monitor from which the vital signs data originates comprises one or more of the following: a heart rate monitor, a respiration rate monitor, a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram (EKG) device, and an electroencephalogram (EEG) device.

[0335] Clause 99. The healthcare information system of clause 67, further comprising a plurality of IV pumps located in at least some of the rooms and wherein the nurse call server is operable to display an IV pump icon or IV pump status data in the respective tile of each room having an IV pump.

[0336] Clause 100. The healthcare information system of clause 67, further comprising a plurality of hemodialysis machines located in at least some of the rooms and wherein the nurse call server is operable to display a hemodialysis icon or hemodialysis status data in the respective tile of each room having a hemodialysis machine.

[0337] Clause 101. The healthcare information system of clause 67, wherein the nurse call server receives at least some of the vital signs data and at least some of the patient risk data from an EMR server, an ADT server, and / or some other enterprise server.

[0338] Clause 102. The healthcare information system of clause 67, further comprising a portable wireless device carried by a caregiver, the portable wireless device being operable to display one or more of the tiles corresponding to the rooms on a display screen of the portable wireless device.

[0339] Clause 103. The healthcare information system of any of preceding clauses 67-102, wherein the administration computer is situated at a master nurse station and also serves as a master nurse station computer that is operable to establish a voice communication channel to speak with patients located in the rooms.

[0340] Clause 104. A healthcare information system comprising a plurality of patient beds located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a dashboard server configured toreceive bed status data originating from the plurality of patient beds, and a display coupled to the dashboard server and commanded by the dashboard server to display at least some of the bed status data in a table with each of the rooms corresponding to a row of the table, wherein the table includes a bed status column in which a first bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a first configuration and in which a second bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a second configuration.

[0341] Clause 105. The healthcare information system of clause 104, wherein the first configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in a chair configuration.

[0342] Clause 106. The healthcare information system of clause 105, wherein the second configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in an exit assist position.

[0343] Clause 107. The healthcare information system of clause 104, wherein the table includes a bed therapy column in which at least one therapy icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is currently operating in a corresponding therapy mode.

[0344] Clause 108. The healthcare information system of clause 107, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes an alternating pressure icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in an alternating pressure mode.

[0345] Clause 109. The healthcare information system of clause 107 or clause 108, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a microclimate management icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a microclimate management therapy mode.

[0346] Clause 110. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 107-109, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a lateral rotation therapy icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a continuous lateral rotation therapy mode.

[0347] Clause 111. The healthcare information system of clause 110, wherein, during the continuous lateral rotation therapy mode, the lateral rotation therapy icon changes to indicate whether an associated patient is turned to the right, to the left, or is in a flat position between left and right turns.

[0348] Clause 112. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 107-111, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a turn assist icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a turn assist mode.

[0349] Clause 113. The healthcare information system of clause 1 12, wherein the turn assist icon indicates whether the associated patient is turned to the left or to the right.

[0350] Clause 114. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 107-113, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a prone icon which indicates whether the associated patient is in a prone position on the patient bed.

[0351] Clause 115. The healthcare information system of clause 107, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including two icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

[0352] Clause 116. The healthcare information system of clause 107, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including three icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

[0353] Clause 117. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 107-116, wherein the table further includes a time in mode column to indicate an amount of time that the associated patient bed has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode.

[0354] Clause 118. The healthcare information system of clause 117, wherein the time in mode column is adjacent to the bed therapy column.

[0355] Clause 119. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 107-118, wherein the table further includes a therapy reminder column to indicate how much time remains before a currently operating therapy mode is completed.

[0356] Clause 120. The healthcare information system of clause 119, wherein colorcoding is used in the therapy reminder column to indicate that the time remaining is less than a threshold amount of time.

[0357] Clause 121. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 104-120, wherein the table further includes a patient column having patient name information in a HIPAA-compliant format for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has been verified by a caregiver and having a non-descript character string for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’ s identity has not been verified.

[0358] Clause 122. The healthcare information system of clause 121, wherein at least some patient beds of the plurality of patient beds include a graphical user interface (GUI) that isoperable to display one or more inputs which are usable to verify the associated patient’s identity.

[0359] Clause 123. The healthcare information system of clause 104, further comprising a nurse call server in communication with the dashboard server.

[0360] Clause 124. The healthcare information system of clause 104, wherein the dashboard server also operates as a nurse call server of a nurse call system.

[0361] Clause 125. A healthcare information system comprising a plurality of patient beds located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a dashboard server configured to receive bed status data originating from the plurality of patient beds, and a display coupled to the dashboard server and commanded by the dashboard server to display at least some of the bed status data in a table with each of the rooms corresponding to a row of the table, wherein the table includes a bed therapy column in which at least one therapy icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated bed is currently operating in a corresponding therapy mode.

[0362] Clause 126. The healthcare information system of clause 125, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes an alternating pressure icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in an alternating pressure mode.

[0363] Clause 127. The healthcare information system of clause 125 or clause 126, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a microclimate management icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a microclimate management therapy mode.

[0364] Clause 128. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 125-127, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a lateral rotation therapy icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a continuous lateral rotation therapy mode.

[0365] Clause 129. The healthcare information system of clause 128, wherein, during the continuous lateral rotation therapy mode, the lateral rotation therapy icon changes to indicate whether an associated patient is turned to the right, to the left, or is in a flat position between left and right turns.

[0366] Clause 130. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 125-129, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a turn assist icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a turn assist mode.

[0367] Clause 131. The healthcare information system of clause 130, wherein the turn assist icon indicates whether the associated patient is turned to the left or to the right.

[0368] Clause 132. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 125-1 1 , wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a prone icon which indicates whether the associated patient is in a prone position on the patient bed.

[0369] Clause 133. The healthcare information system of clause 125, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including two icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

[0370] Clause 134. The healthcare information system of clause 125, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including three icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

[0371] Clause 135. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 125-134, wherein the table further includes a time in mode column to indicate an amount of time that the associated patient bed has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode.

[0372] Clause 136. The healthcare information system of clause 135, wherein the time in mode column is adjacent to the bed therapy column.

[0373] Clause 137. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 125-136, wherein the table further includes a therapy reminder column to indicate how much time remains before a currently operating therapy mode is completed.

[0374] Clause 138. The healthcare information system of clause 137, wherein colorcoding is used in the therapy reminder column to indicate that the time remaining is less than a threshold amount of time.

[0375] Clause 139. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 125-138, wherein the table further includes a patient column having patient name information in a HIPAA-compliant format for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has been verified by a caregiver and having a non-descript character string for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’ s identity has not been verified.

[0376] Clause 140. The healthcare information system of clause 139, wherein at least some patient beds of the plurality of patient beds include a graphical user interface (GUI) that is operable to display one or more inputs which are usable to verify the associated patient’s identity.

[0377] Clause 141 . The healthcare information system of clause 125, further comprising a nurse call server in communication with the dashboard server.

[0378] Clause 142. The healthcare information system of clause 125, wherein the dashboard server also operates as a nurse call server of a nurse call system.

[0379] Clause 143. The healthcare information system of clause 125, wherein the table further includes a bed position column in which a first bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a first configuration and in which a second bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a second configuration.

[0380] Clause 144. The healthcare information system of clause 104, wherein the first configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in one of a chair position and an exit assist position and wherein the second configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in the other of the chair position and the exit assist position.

[0381] Clause 145. A healthcare information system comprising a plurality of patient beds located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a dashboard server configured to receive bed status data originating from the plurality of patient beds, and a display coupled to the dashboard server and commanded by the dashboard server to display at least some of the bed status data in a table with each of the rooms corresponding to a row of the table, wherein the table includes a patient column having patient name information in a HIPAA-compliant format for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has been verified by a caregiver and having a non-descript character string for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has not been verified.

[0382] Clause 146. The healthcare information system of clause 145, wherein at least some patient beds of the plurality of patient beds include a graphical user interface (GUI) that is operable to display one or more inputs which are usable to verify the associated patient’s identity.

[0383] Clause 147. The healthcare information system of clause 145, wherein the non-descript character string includes one or more of the following: asterisks, question marks, ellipses, dashes, the word “unknown,” the words “Verify patient,” or a triangle symbol.

[0384] Clause 148. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 145-147, wherein the table further includes a bed position column in which a first bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a first configuration and inwhich a second bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a second configuration.

[0385] Clause 149. The healthcare information system of clause 148, wherein the first configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in one of a chair position and an exit assist position and wherein the second configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in the other of the chair position and the exit assist position.

[0386] Clause 150. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 145-149, wherein the table further includes a bed therapy column in which at least one therapy icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is currently operating in a corresponding therapy mode.

[0387] Clause 151. The healthcare information system of clause 150, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes an alternating pressure icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in an alternating pressure mode.

[0388] Clause 152. The healthcare information system of clause 150 or clause 151 , wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a microclimate management icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a microclimate management therapy mode.

[0389] Clause 153. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 150-152, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a lateral rotation therapy icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a continuous lateral rotation therapy mode.

[0390] Clause 154. The healthcare information system of clause 153, wherein, during the continuous lateral rotation therapy mode, the lateral rotation therapy icon changes to indicate whether an associated patient is turned to the right, to the left, or is in a flat position between left and right turns.

[0391] Clause 155. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 150-154, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a turn assist icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a turn assist mode.

[0392] Clause 156. The healthcare information system of clause 155, wherein the turn assist icon indicates whether the associated patient is turned to the left or to the right.

[0393] Clause 157. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 150-156, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a prone icon which indicates whether the associated patient is in a prone position on the patient bed.

[0394] Clause 158. The healthcare information system of clause 150, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including two icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

[0395] Clause 159. The healthcare information system of clause 150, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including three icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

[0396] Clause 160. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 150-159, wherein the table further includes a time in mode column to indicate an amount of time that the associated patient bed has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode.

[0397] Clause 161. The healthcare information system of clause 160, wherein the time in mode column is adjacent to the bed therapy column.

[0398] Clause 162. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 150-161, wherein the table further includes a therapy reminder column to indicate how much time remains before a currently operating therapy mode is completed.

[0399] Clause 163. The healthcare information system of clause 162, wherein colorcoding is used in the therapy reminder column to indicate that the time remaining is less than a threshold amount of time.

[0400] Clause 164. The healthcare information system of clause 145, further comprising a nurse call server in communication with the dashboard server.

[0401] Clause 165. The healthcare information system of clause 145, wherein the dashboard server also operates as a nurse call server of a nurse call system.

[0402] Clause 166. The nurse call system of clause 1 or clause 32, wherein, in the tile format, a series of thumbnails corresponding to the patient rooms in a plurality of units or wards of the healthcare facility are shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles, a number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails being greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile, and wherein the display includes a progress bar that fills in above a subset of thumbnails of the series of thumbnails over a predetermined time period during which the tiles that are currently being displayed on the display and that correspond to the subset of thumbnails remain displayed.

[0403] Clause 167. The nurse call system of clause 165, wherein the predetermined time period corresponds to a length of time that the tiles currently being displayed remain on the display before a second subset of tiles replace the tiles currently being displayed.

[0404] Clause 168. The nurse call system of clause 167, wherein the predetermined time period varies depending upon an amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

[0405] Clause 169. The nurse call system of clause 166, wherein the tiles are displayed in a two-row format with each row having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails are shown on the display.

[0406] Clause 170. The nurse call system of clause 166, wherein the tiles are displayed in a single-row format having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails are shown on the display.

[0407] Clause 171. The nurse call system of clause 166, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and wherein the thumbnails are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

[0408] Clause 172. The nurse call system of clause 166, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.

[0409] Clause 173. The nurse call system of clause 166, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the room number of a respective room is displayed within the corresponding thumbnail only for those rooms in which an alert condition is occurring.

[0410] Clause 174. The healthcare information system of clause 68, wherein the display includes a progress bar that fills in above a subset of thumbnails of the series of thumbnails over a predetermined time period during which the tiles that are currently being displayed on the display and that correspond to the subset of thumbnails remain displayed.

[0411] Clause 175. The healthcare information system of clause 174, wherein the predetermined time period corresponds to a length of time that the tiles currently being displayed remain on the display before a second subset of tiles replace the tiles currently being displayed.

[0412] Clause 176. The healthcare information system of clause 175, wherein the predetermined time period varies depending upon an amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

[0413] Clause 177. The healthcare information system of clause 174, wherein the tiles are displayed in a two-row format with each row having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails are shown on the display.

[0414] Clause 178. The healthcare information system of clause 174, wherein the tiles are displayed in a single-row format having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails are shown on the display.

[0415] Clause 179. The healthcare information system of clause 174, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and wherein the thumbnails are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

[0416] Clause 180. The healthcare information system of clause 174, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.

[0417] Clause 181. The healthcare information system of clause 174, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the room number of a respective room is displayed within the corresponding thumbnail only for those rooms in which an alert condition is occurring.

[0418] Clause 182. The nurse call system of any of clauses 2-4 or 44-46, further comprising at least one patient bed having a vital signs sensor supported thereon and wherein the vital signs data displayed in the vital signs zone is sensed by the vital signs sensor.

[0419] Clause 183. The nurse call system of clause 182, wherein a vital signs error icon is displayed in each tile or in an extension field that is appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation.

[0420] Clause 184. The nurse call system of clause 183, wherein the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation due to expiration of a useful life of the vital signs sensor.

[0421] Clause 185. The nurse call system of clause 184, wherein the useful life of the vital signs sensor is tracked by circuitry of the patient bed or by a computer located remotely from the patient bed.

[0422] Clause 186. The nurse call system of clause 183, wherein the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation due to expiration or termination of a license to use the vital signs sensor.

[0423] Clause 187. The nurse call system of clause 186, further comprising a remote computer to monitor whether the license to use the corresponding vital signs sensor is expired or unexpired.

[0424] Clause 188. The nurse call system of any of clauses 183-187, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

[0425] Clause 189. The nurse call system of any of clauses 182-188, wherein the vital signs sensor is supported on a mattress support deck of the patient bed beneath a mattress of the patient bed.

[0426] Clause 190. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 67-103, wherein one or more patient beds of the plurality of patient beds include a vital signs sensor supported thereon and wherein the vital signs data displayed on the display is sensed by the vital signs sensor of the one or more patient beds.

[0427] Clause 191. The healthcare information system of clause 190, wherein a vital signs error icon is displayed in each tile or in an extension field that is appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which the vital signs sensor of the one or more patient beds is disabled from operation.

[0428] Clause 192. The healthcare information system of clause 191, wherein the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation due to expiration of a useful life of the vital signs sensor.

[0429] Clause 193. The healthcare information system of clause 192, wherein the useful life of the vital signs sensor is tracked by circuitry of the patient bed or by a computer located remotely from the patient bed.

[0430] Clause 194. The healthcare information system of clause 191, wherein the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation due to expiration or termination of a license to use the vital signs sensor.

[0431] Clause 195. The healthcare information system of clause 194, further comprising a remote computer to monitor whether the license to use the corresponding vital signs sensor is expired or unexpired.

[0432] Clause 196. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 191-195, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

[0433] Clause 197. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 191 -196, wherein the vital signs sensor is supported on a mattress support deck of the patient bed beneath a mattress of the patient bed.

[0434] Clause 198. The nurse call system of any of clauses 1-66, 166-173, and 182- 189, wherein the bed status data displayed in the tile format includes one or more icons indicative of a bed exit / patient position monitoring (PPM) alarm occurring as detected by a bed exit / PPM system of a corresponding patient bed, wherein the bed exit / PPM system is configured to be armed in a plurality of different modes of sensitivity depending upon how much movement toward exiting the patient bed is required before the bed exit / PPM alarm is generated, and wherein if the bed exit / PPM system is armed in a first mode having greater sensitivity than a second mode, a first bed exit / PPM icon appears in the respective tile corresponding to a first amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed and the first bed exit / PPM icon changes to a second bed exit / PPM icon corresponding to a second amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed, the second amount of movement being greater than the first amount of movement.

[0435] Clause 199. The nurse call system of clause 198, wherein the plurality of different modes of sensitivity includes a third mode and wherein the second bed exit / PPM icon changes to a third bed exit / PPM icon corresponding to a third amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed, the third amount of movement being greater than the second amount of movement.

[0436] Clause 200. The nurse call system of clause 199, wherein the first mode is a patient movement mode in which the first bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient sitting up in bed, the second mode is an edge mode in which the second bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient sitting at an edge of the bed, and the third mode is a bed exit mode in which the third bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient standing up next to the bed.

[0437] Clause 201. The nurse call system of clause 199, wherein the first, second, and third bed exit / PPM icons are also displayed in the table when the display is operating in the table format.

[0438] Clause 202. The nurse call system of clause 198, wherein the first and second bed exit / PPM icons are also displayed in the table when the display is operating in the table format.

[0439] Clause 203. The healthcare information system of any of clauses 67-103, 174- 181, or 190-197, wherein the bed status data displayed in the tile format includes one or moreicons indicative of a bed exit / patient position monitoring (PPM) alarm occurring as detected by a bed exit / PPM system of a corresponding patient bed, wherein the bed exit / PPM system is configured to be armed in a plurality of different modes of sensitivity depending upon how much movement toward exiting the patient bed is required before the bed exit / PPM alarm is generated, and wherein if the bed exit / PPM system is armed in a first mode having greater sensitivity than a second mode, a first bed exit / PPM icon appears in the respective tile corresponding to a first amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed and the first bed exit / PPM icon changes to a second bed exit / PPM icon corresponding to a second amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed, the second amount of movement being greater than the first amount of movement.

[0440] Clause 204. The healthcare information system of clause 203, wherein the plurality of different modes of sensitivity includes a third mode and wherein the second bed exit / PPM icon changes to a third bed exit / PPM icon corresponding to a third amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed, the third amount of movement being greater than the second amount of movement.

[0441] Clause 205. The healthcare information system of clause 204, wherein the first mode is a patient movement mode in which the first bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient sitting up in bed, the second mode is an edge mode in which the second bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient sitting at an edge of the bed, and the third mode is a bed exit mode in which the third bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient standing up next to the bed.

[0442] Clause 206. The healthcare information system of clause 204, wherein the first, second, and third bed exit / PPM icons are also displayed in a table when the display is operating in a table format.

[0443] Clause 207. The healthcare information system of clause 203, wherein the first and second bed exit / PPM icons are also displayed in a table when the display is operating in a table format.

[0444] When terms of degree such as “generally,” “substantially,” and “about” are used herein in connection with a numerical value or a qualitative term susceptible to a numerical measurement (e.g., vertical, horizontal, aligned), it is contemplated that an amount that is plus or minus 10 percent, and possibly up to plus or minus 20 percent, of the numerical value, is covered by such language, unless specifically noted otherwise, to at least account for manufacturing tolerances. For example, “vertical” may be defined as 90 degrees from horizontal and so “substantially vertical” and “generally vertical” according to the presentdisclosure means 90 degrees plus or minus 9 degrees, and possibly up to plus or minus 18 degrees. The same tolerance range for “substantially horizontal” and “generally horizontal” is also contemplated. Otherwise, a suitable definition for “generally,” “substantially,” and “about” is largely, but not necessarily wholly, the term specified.

[0445] When the terms “a” or “an” or the phrases “one or more” or “at least one” are used herein, including in the claims, they are all intended to be synonymous and mean that one or more than one of the thing recited may be present. Similarly, when the phrases “a plurality” or “two or more” or “at least two” or “a pair” are used, they are all intended to be synonymous and mean that two or more than two of the thing recited may be present.

[0446] According to this disclosure, phrases of the form “at least one of A and B” and “at least one of the following: A and B” and similar such phrases, mean “A alone, or B alone, or both A and B.” Phrases of the form “at least one of A or B” and “at least one of the following: A or B” and similar such phrases, also mean “A alone, or B alone, or both A and B.” Furthermore, phrases of the form “A and / or B” also mean “A alone, or B alone, or both A and B.”

[0447] 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.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS1. A nurse call system comprising a nurse call server configured to receive device status data originating from patient care devices and patient risk data input by caregivers or calculated based on at least some of the status data, a display coupled to the nurse call server to display at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data, the nurse call server operable to command the display to show the device status data and the patient risk data on the display in a table format in which room identifiers of patient rooms of a healthcare facility correspond to rows of a table with the rows extending horizontally in the table with the device status data and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table with each row of the table having fields corresponding to the respective columns, the nurse call server operable to command the display to show a lesser amount of the device status data in a tile format in which tiles corresponding to a subset of the patient rooms are displayed horizontally side-by-side on the display, wherein each tile has a patient risk zone in which one or more patient risk icons relating to the patient risk data are displayed, wherein each tile has a device status zone in which one or more device status icons relating to the device status data are displayed, and an administration computer coupled to the nurse call server and operable to select which device status data is shown in the columns of the table and which device status data has corresponding device status icons shown in at least some of the device status zones of each tile.

2. The nurse call system of claim 1, wherein the device status zones of each tile includes a vital signs zone and the status data includes patient vital signs data that is displayed in the vital signs zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding patient room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount.

3. The nurse call system of claim 2, wherein the vital signs data includes heart rate, a heart icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

4. The nurse call system of claim 2, wherein the vital signs data includes respiration rate, a lungs icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate,an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

5. The nurse call system of claim 2, wherein the device status zones of each tile further includes a bed status zone and the status data includes bed status data that is displayed in the bed status zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room.

6. The nurse call system of claim 5, wherein the bed status data is displayed using bed status icons that include icons indicating one or more of the following: bed exit system status, a head section of the bed being above a threshold angle, the head section of the bed being below the threshold angle, caster brake status, siderail position status, a mattress operating in an alternating pressure mode, the mattress of the bed operating in a lateral rotation mode, and the mattress of the bed operating in a percussion and vibration (P&V) mode.

7. The nurse call system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more patient risk icons include one or more of the following: a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is a falls risk, a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pressure sores, and a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pulmonary complications.

8. The nurse call system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data and wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data.

9. The nurse call system of claim 8, wherein each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition is occurring is displayed so as to be larger than each of the tiles corresponding to patient rooms in which no alert condition is occurring.

10. The nurse call system of claim 8, wherein an extension field is appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition is occurring and the extension field provides additional information regarding the alert condition.

11. The nurse call system of claim 10, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

12. The nurse call system of claim 10, wherein if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions are shown simultaneously in the extension field.

13. The nurse call system of claim 10, wherein the additional information regarding the alert condition comprises an alert icon.

14. The nurse call system of claim 13, wherein the alert icon comprises one or more of the following: patient out of position icon, patient bed exit icon, a head section icon indicating that the head section of the bed is below a threshold angle, caster brake icon indicating that one or more of the bed casters have been unbraked, a bed not low icon indicating that an upper frame of the bed is not in its lowest position, a mattress error icon indicating that a mattress of the bed is not operating properly, siderail down icon indicating that one or more bed siderails are not in their raised positions, a bed disconnection icon indicating a loss of connectivity of the bed to alternating current (AC) power or to the nurse call system, and a bed service icon indicating that at least one component of the bed requires service.

15. The nurse call system of claim 1, wherein the device status data includes bed status data and patient vital signs data, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by any of the device status data, wherein the at least the portion each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data, and wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a third color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the vital signs monitor status data.

16. The nurse call system of claim 1, wherein the display displays a user selectable field that is selectable to switch between the table format and the tile format.

17. The nurse call system of claim 1, wherein each tile shown in the tile format is selectable by a caregiver to navigate to a comprehensive patient data screen that shows more patient data than is shown in the tile and table formats.

18. The nurse call system of claim 17, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays data points for a plurality of previous readings of patient temperature, patient weight, heart rate, and respiration rate for a patient in the patient room corresponding to the selected tile.

19. The nurse call system of claim 17, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays numerical values for one or more of the following patient risk scores: apressure score, a falls risk score, a mobility score, a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS).

20. The nurse call system of claim 17, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays a trending graph showing trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’ s heart rate and respiration rate.

21. The nurse call system of claim 17, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays the most recent reading for each of the following of the corresponding patient: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, blood pressure, and temperature.

22. The nurse call system of claim 1, wherein, in the tile format, a series of thumbnails corresponding to the patient rooms in a unit or ward of the healthcare facility are shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles, a number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails being greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile, and wherein the display includes a context box surrounding a subset of thumbnails of the series of thumbnails with the subset of thumbnails corresponding to the tiles currently being displayed on the display.

23. The nurse call system of claim 22, wherein the context box cycles from surrounding a first subset of thumbnails to surrounding a second subset of thumbnails at a cycling time which varies depending upon the amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the first subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

24. The nurse call system of claim 22, wherein each tile is at least four times larger than each thumbnail.

25. The nurse call system of claim 22, wherein at least four times more thumbnails are shown on the display than the number of the tiles being shown.

26. The nurse call system of claim 22, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and wherein the thumbnails within the context box are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

27. The nurse call system of claim 22, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.-I l l-28. The nurse call system of claim 22, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the thumbnails are devoid of room numbers.

29. The nurse call system of claim 1, wherein the patient care devices from which the device status originates comprises one or more of the following: a patient bed, a heart rate monitor, a respiration rate monitor, a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram (EKG) device, an electroencephalogram (EEG) device, an IV pump, a patient lift, or a hemodialysis machine.

30. The nurse call system of claim 1, wherein the nurse call server receives at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data from an EMR server, an ADT server, and / or some other enterprise server.

31. The nurse call system of claim 1, further comprising a portable wireless device carried by a caregiver, the portable wireless device being operable to display one or more of the tiles corresponding to the patient rooms on a display screen of the portable wireless device.

32. A nurse call system comprising a nurse call server configured to receive device status data originating from patient care devices and patient risk data input by caregivers or calculated based on at least some of the status data, a display coupled to the nurse call server to display at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data, the nurse call server operable to command the display to show only a portion of the device status data in a tile format in which tiles corresponding to a subset of the patient rooms in a unit or ward of a healthcare facility are displayed horizontally side-by-side on the display, wherein each tile has a patient risk zone in which one or more patient risk icons relating to the patient risk data are displayed, wherein each tile has a device status zone in which one or more device status icons relating to the device status data are displayed, wherein, in the tile format, a series of thumbnails corresponding to the patient rooms in the unit or ward of the healthcare facility are shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles, a number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails being greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile, and an administration computer coupled to the nurse call server and operable to select which device status data has corresponding device status icons shown in at least some of the device status zones of each tile.

33. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein, in the tile format, the display includes a context box surrounding a subset of the thumbnails of the series of thumbnails with the subset of thumbnails surrounded by the context box corresponding to the tiles currently being displayed on the display.

34. The nurse call system of claim 33, wherein the context box cycles from surrounding a first subset of thumbnails to surrounding a second subset of thumbnails at a cycling time which varies depending upon the amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the first subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

35. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein each tile is at least four times larger than each thumbnail.

36. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein at least four times more thumbnails are shown on the display than the number of the tiles being shown.

37. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein the series of thumbnails are shown on the display beneath the tiles.

38. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and wherein the thumbnails within the context box are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

39. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.

40. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the thumbnails are devoid of room numbers.

41. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein the nurse call server is operable to display the device status data and the patient risk data on the display in a table format in which room identifiers of patient rooms of a healthcare facility correspond to rows of a table with the rows extending horizontally in the table with the device status data and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table with each row of the table having fields corresponding to the respective columns, and wherein a greater amount of the device status data is displayed on the display in the table format than in the tile format.

42. The nurse call system of claim 41 , wherein the administration computer is operable to select which device status data is shown in the columns of the table.

43. The nurse call system of claim 41, wherein the display displays a user selectable field that is selectable to switch between the table format and the tile format.

44. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein the device status zones of each tile includes a vital signs zone and the status data includes patient vital signs data that is displayed in the vital signs zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding patient room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount.

45. The nurse call system of claim 44, wherein the vital signs data includes heart rate, a heart icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

46. The nurse call system of claim 44, wherein the vital signs data includes respiration rate, a lungs icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

47. The nurse call system of claim 44, wherein the device status zones of each tile further includes a bed status zone and the status data includes bed status data that is displayed in the bed status zone of the tile of the corresponding patient room.

48. The nurse call system of claim 47, wherein the bed status data is displayed using bed status icons that include icons indicating one or more of the following: bed exit system status, a head section of the bed being above a threshold angle, the head section of the be being below the threshold angle, caster brake status, siderail position status, a mattress operating in an alternating pressure mode, the mattress of the bed operating in a lateral rotation mode, and the mattress of the bed operating in a percussion and vibration (P&V) mode.

49. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein the one or more patient risk icons include one or more of the following: a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is a falls risk, a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk ofdeveloping pressure sores, and a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pulmonary complications.

50. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data and wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data.

51. The nurse call system of claim 50, wherein each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition is occurring is displayed so as to be larger than each of the tiles corresponding to patient rooms in which no alert condition is occurring.

52. The nurse call system of claim 50, wherein an extension field is appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which an alert condition is occurring and the extension field provides additional information regarding the alert condition.

53. The nurse call system of claim 52, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

54. The nurse call system of claim 52, wherein if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions are shown simultaneously in the extension field.

55. The nurse call system of claim 52, wherein the additional information regarding the alert conditions comprises an alert icon.

56. The nurse call system of claim 55, wherein the alert icon comprises one or more of the following: patient out of position icon, patient bed exit icon, a head section icon indicating that the head section of the bed is below a threshold angle, caster brake icon indicating that one or more of the bed casters have been unbraked, a bed not low icon indicating that an upper frame of the bed is not in its lowest position, a mattress error icon indicating that a mattress of the bed is not operating properly, siderail down icon indicating that one or more bed siderails are not in their raised positions, a bed disconnection icon indicating a loss of connectivity of the bed to alternating current (AC) power or to the nurse call system, and a bed service icon indicating that at least one component of the bed requires service.

57. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein the device status data includes bed status data and patient vital signs data, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by any of the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile isdisplayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data, and wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a third color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the vital signs monitor status data.

58. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein each tile shown in the tile format is selectable by a caregiver to navigate to a comprehensive patient data screen that shows more patient data than is shown in the tile and table formats.

59. The nurse call system of claim 58, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays data points for a plurality of previous readings of patient temperature, patient weight, heart rate, and respiration rate for a patient in the patient room corresponding to the selected tile.

60. The nurse call system of claim 58, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays numerical values for one or more of the following patient risk scores: a pressure score, a falls risk score, a mobility score, a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS).

61. The nurse call system of claim 58, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays a trending graph showing trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’ s heart rate and respiration rate.

62. The nurse call system of claim 58, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays the most recent reading for each of the following of the corresponding patient: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, blood pressure, and temperature.

63. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein the patient care devices from which the device status originates comprises one or more of the following: a patient bed, a heart rate monitor, a respiration rate monitor, a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram (EKG) device, an electroencephalogram (EEG) device, an IV pump, a patient lift, or a hemodialysis machine.

64. The nurse call system of claim 32, wherein the nurse call server receives at least some of the device status data and at least some of the patient risk data from an EMR server, an ADT server, and / or some other enterprise server.

65. The nurse call system of claim 32, further comprising a portable wireless device carried by a caregiver, the portable wireless device being operable to display one ormore of the tiles corresponding to the patient rooms on a display screen of the portable wireless device.

66. The nurse call system of any of preceding claims 1-65, wherein the administration computer is situated at a master nurse station and also serves as a master nurse station computer that is operable to establish a voice communication channel to speak with patients located in the patient rooms.

67. A healthcare information system comprising a plurality of patient beds located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a plurality of vital signs monitors located in at least some of the rooms, a nurse call server configured to receive bed status data originating from the plurality of patient beds and to receive vital signs data originating from the plurality of vital signs monitors, the nurse call server also receiving patient risk data input by caregivers or calculated based on at least some of the vital signs data, a display coupled to the nurse call server and commanded by the nurse call server to display tiles corresponding to a subset of the rooms in a unit or ward of a healthcare facility, the tiles being displayed horizontally side-by-side on the display, each tile being configured to display simultaneously one or more bed status icons corresponding to at least some of the bed status data, one or more vital signs icons corresponding to at least some of the vital signs data, and one or more patient risk icons corresponding to at least some of the patient risk data, wherein a number of bed status icons that can be displayed simultaneously is limited to a threshold number, and an administration computer coupled to the nurse call server and operable to establish a bed status data prioritization to thereby prioritize which bed status icons take prioritization over other bed status icons for display in the tile for the respective room.

68. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein the display is also commanded by the nurse call server to display a series of thumbnails corresponding to the patient rooms in the unit or ward of the healthcare facility to be shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles, a number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails being greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile.

69. The healthcare information system of claim 68, wherein the nurse call server further commands the display to show a context box surrounding a subset of the thumbnails of the series of thumbnails with the subset of thumbnails surrounded by the context box corresponding to the tiles currently being displayed on the display.

70. The healthcare information system of claim 69, wherein the context box cycles from surrounding a first subset of thumbnails to surrounding a second subset of thumbnails at a cycling time which varies depending upon the amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the first subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

71. The healthcare information system of claim 68, wherein each tile is at least four times larger than each thumbnail.

72. The healthcare information system of claim 68, wherein at least four times more thumbnails are shown on the display than the number of the tiles being shown.

73. The healthcare information system of claim 68, wherein the series of thumbnails are shown on the display beneath the tiles.

74. The healthcare information system of claim 68, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the bed status data and the vital signs data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data or the vital signs data, and wherein the thumbnails within the context box are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

75. The healthcare information system of claim 68, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.

76. The healthcare information system of claim 68, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the thumbnails are devoid of room numbers.

77. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein the nurse call server is operable to display the bed status data, the vital signs data, and the patient risk data on the display in a table format in which room identifiers of patient rooms of a healthcare facility correspond to rows of a table with the rows extending horizontally in the table with the bed status data, vital signs data, and patient risk data being shown in columns of the table with each row of the table having fields corresponding to the respective columns, and wherein a greater amount of the bed status data is displayed on the display in the table than in the tiles.

78. The healthcare information system of claim 77, wherein the administration computer is operable to select which bed status data is shown in the columns of the table.

79. The healthcare information system of claim 77, wherein the display displays a user selectable field that is selectable to switch the display between showing the tiles and showing the table.

80. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein the vital signs data is displayed in the tile of a corresponding room for a threshold period of time in response to a vital sign of a patient in the corresponding room changing from one value to another by a threshold amount.

81. The healthcare information system of claim 80, wherein the vital signs data includes heart rate, a heart icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the heart rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the heart rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

82. The healthcare information system of claim 80, wherein the vital signs data includes respiration rate, a lungs icon is displayed in the vital signs zone along with the respiration rate, an up arrow is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate increases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount, and a down arrow icon is displayed in the vital signs zone if the respiration rate decreases by an amount that is equal to or greater than the threshold amount.

83. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein the bed status icons indicate one or more of the following: bed exit system status, a head section of the bed being above a threshold angle, the head section of the be being below the threshold angle, caster brake status, a mattress operating in an alternating pressure mode, siderail position status, a mattress of the bed being in a lateral rotation mode, and the mattress of the bed being in an alternating pressure mode.

84. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein the one or more patient risk icons include one or more of the following: a falls risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is a falls risk, a skin risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pressure sores, and a pulmonary risk icon to indicate that the corresponding patient is at risk of developing pulmonary complications.

85. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the bed status data and the vital signs data andwherein the at least the portion each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data or the vital signs data.

86. The healthcare information system of claim 85, wherein each tile corresponding to a respective room in which an alert condition is occurring is displayed so as to be larger than each of the tiles corresponding to rooms in which no alert condition is occurring.

87. The healthcare information system of claim 85, wherein an extension field is appended to each tile corresponding to a room in which an alert condition is occurring and the extension field provides additional information regarding the alert condition.

88. The healthcare information system of claim 87, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

89. The healthcare information system of claim 87, wherein if two or more alert conditions are occurring in the same room, then information regarding the two or more alert conditions are shown simultaneously in the extension field.

90. The healthcare information system of claim 87, wherein the additional information regarding the alert conditions comprises an alert icon.

91. The healthcare information system of claim 90, wherein the alert icon comprises one or more of the following: patient out of position icon, patient bed exit icon, a head section icon indicating that the head section of the bed is below a threshold angle, caster brake icon indicating that one or more of the bed casters have been unbraked, a bed not low icon indicating that an upper frame of the bed is not in its lowest position, a mattress error icon indicating that a mattress of the bed is not operating properly, siderail down icon indicating that one or more bed siderails are not in their raised positions, a bed disconnection icon indicating a loss of connectivity of the bed to alternating current (AC) power or to the nurse call system, and a bed service icon indicating that at least one component of the bed requires service.

92. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by any of the bed status data and vital signs data, wherein each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the bed status data, and wherein each tile is displayed in a third color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the vital signs data.

93. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein each tile shown on the display is selectable by a caregiver to navigate to a comprehensive patient data screen that shows more patient data than is shown in the respective tile.

94. The healthcare information system of claim 93, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays data points for a plurality of previous readings of patient temperature, patient weight, heart rate, and respiration rate for a patient in the patient room corresponding to the selected tile.

95. The healthcare information system of claim 93, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays numerical values for one or more of the following patient risk scores: a pressure score, a falls risk score, a mobility score, a pain score, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, and a modified early warning score (MEWS).

96. The healthcare information system of claim 93, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays a trending graph showing trends over a period of time of the corresponding patient’ s heart rate and respiration rate.

97. The healthcare information system of claim 93, wherein the comprehensive patient data screen displays the most recent reading for each of the following of the corresponding patient: respiration rate in breaths-per-minute, heart rate in beats-per-minute, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in percent, blood pressure, and temperature.

98. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein the vital signs monitor from which the vital signs data originates comprises one or more of the following: a heart rate monitor, a respiration rate monitor, a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, an electrocardiogram (EKG) device, and an electroencephalogram (EEG) device.

99. The healthcare information system of claim 67, further comprising a plurality of IV pumps located in at least some of the rooms and wherein the nurse call server is operable to display an IV pump icon or IV pump status data in the respective tile of each room having an IV pump.

100. The healthcare information system of claim 67, further comprising a plurality of hemodialysis machines located in at least some of the rooms and wherein the nurse call server is operable to display a hemodialysis icon or hemodialysis status data in the respective tile of each room having a hemodialysis machine.

101. The healthcare information system of claim 67, wherein the nurse call server receives at least some of the vital signs data and at least some of the patient risk data from an EMR server, an ADT server, and / or some other enterprise server.

102. The healthcare information system of claim 67, further comprising a portable wireless device carried by a caregiver, the portable wireless device being operable todisplay one or more of the tiles corresponding to the rooms on a display screen of the portable wireless device.

103. The healthcare information system of any of preceding claims 67-102, wherein the administration computer is situated at a master nurse station and also serves as a master nurse station computer that is operable to establish a voice communication channel to speak with patients located in the rooms.

104. A healthcare information system comprising a plurality of patient beds located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a dashboard server configured to receive bed status data originating from the plurality of patient beds, and a display coupled to the dashboard server and commanded by the dashboard server to display at least some of the bed status data in a table with each of the rooms corresponding to a row of the table, wherein the table includes a bed status column in which a first bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a first configuration and in which a second bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a second configuration.

105. The healthcare information system of claim 104, wherein the first configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in a chair configuration.

106. The healthcare information system of claim 105, wherein the second configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in an exit assist position.

107. The healthcare information system of claim 104, wherein the table includes a bed therapy column in which at least one therapy icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is currently operating in a corresponding therapy mode.

108. The healthcare information system of claim 107, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes an alternating pressure icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in an alternating pressure mode.

109. The healthcare information system of claim 107 or claim 108, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a microclimate management icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a microclimate management therapy mode.

110. The healthcare information system of any of claims 107-109, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a lateral rotation therapy icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a continuous lateral rotation therapy mode.1 1 1. The healthcare information system of claim 1 10, wherein, during the continuous lateral rotation therapy mode, the lateral rotation therapy icon changes to indicate whether an associated patient is turned to the right, to the left, or is in a flat position between left and right turns.

112. The healthcare information system of any of claims 107-111, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a turn assist icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a turn assist mode.

113. The healthcare information system of claim 112, wherein the turn assist icon indicates whether the associated patient is turned to the left or to the right.

114. The healthcare information system of any of claims 107-113, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a prone icon which indicates whether the associated patient is in a prone position on the patient bed.

115. The healthcare information system of claim 107, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including two icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

116. The healthcare information system of claim 107, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including three icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

117. The healthcare information system of any of claims 107-116, wherein the table further includes a time in mode column to indicate an amount of time that the associated patient bed has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode.

118. The healthcare information system of claim 117, wherein the time in mode column is adjacent to the bed therapy column.

119. The healthcare information system of any of claims 107-118, wherein the table further includes a therapy reminder column to indicate how much time remains before a currently operating therapy mode is completed.

120. The healthcare information system of claim 119, wherein color-coding is used in the therapy reminder column to indicate that the time remaining is less than a threshold amount of time.

121. The healthcare information system of any of claims 104-120, wherein the table further includes a patient column having patient name information in a HIPAA-compliantformat for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has been verified by a caregiver and having a non-descript character string for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has not been verified.

122. The healthcare information system of claim 121, wherein at least some patient beds of the plurality of patient beds include a graphical user interface (GUI) that is operable to display one or more inputs which are usable to verify the associated patient’s identity.

123. The healthcare information system of claim 104, further comprising a nurse call server in communication with the dashboard server.

124. The healthcare information system of claim 104, wherein the dashboard server also operates as a nurse call server of a nurse call system.

125. A healthcare information system comprising a plurality of patient beds located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a dashboard server configured to receive bed status data originating from the plurality of patient beds, and a display coupled to the dashboard server and commanded by the dashboard server to display at least some of the bed status data in a table with each of the rooms corresponding to a row of the table, wherein the table includes a bed therapy column in which at least one therapy icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated bed is currently operating in a corresponding therapy mode.

126. The healthcare information system of claim 125, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes an alternating pressure icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in an alternating pressure mode.

127. The healthcare information system of claim 125 or claim 126, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a microclimate management icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a microclimate management therapy mode.

128. The healthcare information system of any of claims 125-127, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a lateral rotation therapy icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a continuous lateral rotation therapy mode.

129. The healthcare information system of claim 128, wherein, during the continuous lateral rotation therapy mode, the lateral rotation therapy icon changes to indicate whether an associated patient is turned to the right, to the left, or is in a flat position between left and right turns.

130. The healthcare information system of any of claims 125-129, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a turn assist icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a turn assist mode.

131. The healthcare information system of claim 130, wherein the turn assist icon indicates whether the associated patient is turned to the left or to the right.

132. The healthcare information system of any of claims 125-131, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a prone icon which indicates whether the associated patient is in a prone position on the patient bed.

133. The healthcare information system of claim 125, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including two icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

134. The healthcare information system of claim 125, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including three icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

135. The healthcare information system of any of claims 125-134, wherein the table further includes a time in mode column to indicate an amount of time that the associated patient bed has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode.

136. The healthcare information system of claim 135, wherein the time in mode column is adjacent to the bed therapy column.

137. The healthcare information system of any of claims 125-136, wherein the table further includes a therapy reminder column to indicate how much time remains before a currently operating therapy mode is completed.

138. The healthcare information system of claim 137, wherein color-coding is used in the therapy reminder column to indicate that the time remaining is less than a threshold amount of time.

139. The healthcare information system of any of claims 125-138, wherein the table further includes a patient column having patient name information in a HIPAA-compliant format for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has been verified by a caregiver and having a non-descript character string for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has not been verified.

140. The healthcare information system of claim 139, wherein at least some patient beds of the plurality of patient beds include a graphical user interface (GUI) that is operable to display one or more inputs which are usable to verify the associated patient’s identity.

141. The healthcare information system of claim 125, further comprising a nurse call server in communication with the dashboard server.

142. The healthcare information system of claim 125, wherein the dashboard server also operates as a nurse call server of a nurse call system.

143. The healthcare information system of claim 125, wherein the table further includes a bed position column in which a first bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a first configuration and in which a second bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a second configuration.

144. The healthcare information system of claim 104, wherein the first configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in one of a chair position and an exit assist position and wherein the second configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in the other of the chair position and the exit assist position.

145. A healthcare information system comprising a plurality of patient beds located in respective rooms of a healthcare facility, a dashboard server configured to receive bed status data originating from the plurality of patient beds, and a display coupled to the dashboard server and commanded by the dashboard server to display at least some of the bed status data in a table with each of the rooms corresponding to a row of the table, wherein the table includes a patient column having patient name information in a HIPAA-compliant format for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has been verified by a caregiver and having a non-descript character string for a corresponding patient room if the associated patient’s identity has not been verified.

146. The healthcare information system of claim 145, wherein at least some patient beds of the plurality of patient beds include a graphical user interface (GUI) that is operable to display one or more inputs which are usable to verify the associated patient’s identity.

147. The healthcare information system of claim 145, wherein the nondescript character string includes one or more of the following: asterisks, question marks, ellipses, dashes, the word “unknown,” the words “Verify patient,” or a triangle symbol.

148. The healthcare information system of any of claims 145-147, wherein the table further includes a bed position column in which a first bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a first configuration and in which a second bed position icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is in a second configuration.

149. The healthcare information system of claim 148, wherein the first configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in one of a chair position and an exit assist position and wherein the second configuration comprises the associated patient bed being in the other of the chair position and the exit assist position.

150. The healthcare information system of any of claims 145-149, wherein the table further includes a bed therapy column in which at least one therapy icon is displayed in a corresponding row if the associated patient bed is currently operating in a corresponding therapy mode.

151. The healthcare information system of claim 150, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes an alternating pressure icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in an alternating pressure mode.

152. The healthcare information system of claim 150 or claim 151, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a microclimate management icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a microclimate management therapy mode.

153. The healthcare information system of any of claims 150-152, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a lateral rotation therapy icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a continuous lateral rotation therapy mode.

154. The healthcare information system of claim 153, wherein, during the continuous lateral rotation therapy mode, the lateral rotation therapy icon changes to indicate whether an associated patient is turned to the right, to the left, or is in a flat position between left and right turns.

155. The healthcare information system of any of claims 150-154, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a turn assist icon which indicates that the associated patient bed is currently operating in a turn assist mode.

156. The healthcare information system of claim 1 5, wherein the turn assist icon indicates whether the associated patient is turned to the left or to the right.

157. The healthcare information system of any of claims 150-156, wherein the at least one therapy icon includes a prone icon which indicates whether the associated patient is in a prone position on the patient bed.

158. The healthcare information system of claim 150, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including two icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

159. The healthcare information system of claim 150, wherein the at least one therapy icon displayed in the bed therapy column includes a plurality of therapy icons including three icons from among the following: an alternating pressure mode icon, a continuous lateral rotation therapy icon, a turn assist icon, and a microclimate management icon.

160. The healthcare information system of any of claims 150-159, wherein the table further includes a time in mode column to indicate an amount of time that the associated patient bed has been operating in the corresponding therapy mode.

161. The healthcare information system of claim 160, wherein the time in mode column is adjacent to the bed therapy column.

162. The healthcare information system of any of claims 150-161, wherein the table further includes a therapy reminder column to indicate how much time remains before a currently operating therapy mode is completed.

163. The healthcare information system of claim 162, wherein color-coding is used in the therapy reminder column to indicate that the time remaining is less than a threshold amount of time.

164. The healthcare information system of claim 145, further comprising a nurse call server in communication with the dashboard server.

165. The healthcare information system of claim 145, wherein the dashboard server also operates as a nurse call server of a nurse call system.

166. The nurse call system of claim 1 or claim 32, wherein, in the tile format, a series of thumbnails corresponding to the patient rooms in a plurality of units or wards of the healthcare facility are shown on the display simultaneously with the tiles, a number of thumbnails in the series of thumbnails being greater than a number of the tiles, with each thumbnail being smaller than each tile, and wherein the display includes a progress bar that fillsin above a subset of thumbnails of the series of thumbnails over a predetermined time period during which the tiles that are currently being displayed on the display and that correspond to the subset of thumbnails remain displayed.

167. The nurse call system of claim 165, wherein the predetermined time period corresponds to a length of time that the tiles currently being displayed remain on the display before a second subset of tiles replace the tiles currently being displayed.

168. The nurse call system of claim 167, wherein the predetermined time period varies depending upon an amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

169. The nurse call system of claim 166, wherein the tiles are displayed in a two-row format with each row having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails are shown on the display.

170. The nurse call system of claim 166, wherein the tiles are displayed in a single-row format having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails are shown on the display.

171. The nurse call system of claim 166, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and wherein the thumbnails are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

172. The nurse call system of claim 166, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.

173. The nurse call system of claim 166, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the room number of a respective room is displayed within the corresponding thumbnail only for those rooms in which an alert condition is occurring.

174. The healthcare information system of claim 68, wherein the display includes a progress bar that fills in above a subset of thumbnails of the series of thumbnails over a predetermined time period during which the tiles that are currently being displayed on the display and that correspond to the subset of thumbnails remain displayed.

175. The healthcare information system of claim 174, wherein the predetermined time period corresponds to a length of time that the tiles currently beingdisplayed remain on the display before a second subset of tiles replace the tiles currently being displayed.

176. The healthcare information system of claim 175, wherein the predetermined time period varies depending upon an amount of information being shown in the tiles corresponding to the subset of thumbnails that are being displayed on the display.

177. The healthcare information system of claim 174, wherein the tiles are displayed in a two-row format with each row having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails are shown on the display.

178. The healthcare information system of claim 174, wherein the tiles are displayed in a single-row format having n number of tiles, and wherein at least 4n thumbnails are shown on the display.

179. The healthcare information system of claim 174, wherein at least a portion of each tile is displayed in a first color if there are no alert conditions occurring in the corresponding patient room as indicated by the device status data, wherein the at least the portion of each tile is displayed in a second color if an alert condition occurs in the corresponding room as indicated by the device status data, and wherein the thumbnails are color-coded to match the color-coding of the at least the portion of the corresponding tile.

180. The healthcare information system of claim 174, wherein the thumbnails are displayed in a horizontal, single row arrangement on the display.

181. The healthcare information system of claim 174, wherein a room number is displayed in each tile for the corresponding room and wherein the room number of a respective room is displayed within the corresponding thumbnail only for those rooms in which an alert condition is occurring.

182. The nurse call system of any of claims 2-4 or 44-46, further comprising at least one patient bed having a vital signs sensor supported thereon and wherein the vital signs data displayed in the vital signs zone is sensed by the vital signs sensor.

183. The nurse call system of claim 182, wherein a vital signs error icon is displayed in each tile or in an extension field that is appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation.

184. The nurse call system of claim 183, wherein the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation due to expiration of a useful life of the vital signs sensor.

185. The nurse call system of claim 184, wherein the useful life of the vital signs sensor is tracked by circuitry of the patient bed or by a computer located remotely from the patient bed.

186. The nurse call system of claim 183, wherein the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation due to expiration or termination of a license to use the vital signs sensor.

187. The nurse call system of claim 186, further comprising a remote computer to monitor whether the license to use the corresponding vital signs sensor is expired or unexpired.

188. The nurse call system of any of claims 183-187, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

189. The nurse call system of any of claims 182-188, wherein the vital signs sensor is supported on a mattress support deck of the patient bed beneath a mattress of the patient bed.

190. The healthcare information system of any of claims 67-103, wherein one or more patient beds of the plurality of patient beds include a vital signs sensor supported thereon and wherein the vital signs data displayed on the display is sensed by the vital signs sensor of the one or more patient beds.

191. The healthcare information system of claim 190, wherein a vital signs error icon is displayed in each tile or in an extension field that is appended to each tile corresponding to a patient room in which the vital signs sensor of the one or more patient beds is disabled from operation.

192. The healthcare information system of claim 191, wherein the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation due to expiration of a useful life of the vital signs sensor.

193. The healthcare information system of claim 192, wherein the useful life of the vital signs sensor is tracked by circuitry of the patient bed or by a computer located remotely from the patient bed.

194. The healthcare information system of claim 191, wherein the vital signs sensor is disabled from operation due to expiration or termination of a license to use the vital signs sensor.

195. The healthcare information system of claim 194, further comprising a remote computer to monitor whether the license to use the corresponding vital signs sensor is expired or unexpired.

196. The healthcare information system of any of claims 191 -195, wherein the extension field is appended to a bottom of the corresponding tile.

197. The healthcare information system of any of claims 191-196, wherein the vital signs sensor is supported on a mattress support deck of the patient bed beneath a mattress of the patient bed.

198. The nurse call system of any of claims 1-66, 166-173, and 182-189, wherein the bed status data displayed in the tile format includes one or more icons indicative of a bed exit / patient position monitoring (PPM) alarm occurring as detected by a bed exit / PPM system of a corresponding patient bed, wherein the bed exit / PPM system is configured to be armed in a plurality of different modes of sensitivity depending upon how much movement toward exiting the patient bed is required before the bed exit / PPM alarm is generated, and wherein if the bed exit / PPM system is armed in a first mode having greater sensitivity than a second mode, a first bed exit / PPM icon appears in the respective tile corresponding to a first amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed and the first bed exit / PPM icon changes to a second bed exit / PPM icon corresponding to a second amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed, the second amount of movement being greater than the first amount of movement.

199. The nurse call system of claim 198, wherein the plurality of different modes of sensitivity includes a third mode and wherein the second bed exit / PPM icon changes to a third bed exit / PPM icon corresponding to a third amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed, the third amount of movement being greater than the second amount of movement.

200. The nurse call system of claim 199, wherein the first mode is a patient movement mode in which the first bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient sitting up in bed, the second mode is an edge mode in which the second bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient sitting at an edge of the bed, and the third mode is a bed exit mode in which the third bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient standing up next to the bed.

201. The nurse call system of claim 199, wherein the first, second, and third bed exit / PPM icons are also displayed in the table when the display is operating in the table format.

202. The nurse call system of claim 198, wherein the first and second bed exit / PPM icons are also displayed in the table when the display is operating in the table format.

203. The healthcare information system of any of claims 67-103, 174-181 , or 190-197, wherein the bed status data displayed in the tile format includes one or more icons indicative of a bed exit / patient position monitoring (PPM) alarm occurring as detected by a bed exit / PPM system of a corresponding patient bed, wherein the bed exit / PPM system is configured to be armed in a plurality of different modes of sensitivity depending upon how much movement toward exiting the patient bed is required before the bed exit / PPM alarm is generated, and wherein if the bed exit / PPM system is armed in a first mode having greater sensitivity than a second mode, a first bed exit / PPM icon appears in the respective tile corresponding to a first amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed and the first bed exit / PPM icon changes to a second bed exit / PPM icon corresponding to a second amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed, the second amount of movement being greater than the first amount of movement.

204. The healthcare information system of claim 203, wherein the plurality of different modes of sensitivity includes a third mode and wherein the second bed exit / PPM icon changes to a third bed exit / PPM icon corresponding to a third amount of patient movement toward exiting the patient bed, the third amount of movement being greater than the second amount of movement.

205. The healthcare information system of claim 204, wherein the first mode is a patient movement mode in which the first bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient sitting up in bed, the second mode is an edge mode in which the second bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient sitting at an edge of the bed, and the third mode is a bed exit mode in which the third bed exit / PPM icon represents the patient standing up next to the bed.

206. The healthcare information system of claim 204, wherein the first, second, and third bed exit / PPM icons are also displayed in a table when the display is operating in a table format.

207. The healthcare information system of claim 203, wherein the first and second bed exit / PPM icons are also displayed in a table when the display is operating in a table format.

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