Hospital Bed Lockout Control System for Patient Safety
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hospital beds lack effective lockout features to prevent patients from accidentally or intentionally changing the configuration of the bed, which can lead to injuries or complications.
Innovation Solution
The patient support apparatus incorporates automatic and manual lockout features. Automatic lockouts are triggered by specific events, such as a caregiver activating a lockout control or detecting a fall risk score exceeding a threshold. Manual lockouts can be activated by caregivers using a lockout control panel, and both types of lockouts provide notifications to users about the active lockout status.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual lockout controls are added to prevent patient operation, then patient safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is segmented into multiple independent lockout controls (first lockout control for first component, second lockout control for second component) rather than a single master lockout. This allows selective locking of specific functions while maintaining others accessible, improving safety without overwhelming complexity
Solution Approach 2:
A controller acts as an intermediary between the lockout controls and the bed components. The controller receives signals from lockout controls and automatically manages the locking state of components, reducing the complexity burden on the mechanical system while maintaining reliable safety control
2Object-affected harmful factors
If automatic lockout features are implemented based on triggering events, then injury prevention is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by detecting triggering events (such as unauthorized access attempts or unsafe configurations) and automatically activating lockout controls before injury can occur. This proactive approach prevents harmful outcomes without requiring complex real-time intervention systems
Solution Approach 2:
The controller continuously monitors system state and provides feedback by automatically activating or deactivating lockout controls based on detected triggering events. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables automatic injury prevention while maintaining manageable system complexity through event-driven control
3Loss of information
If lockout indications are displayed to notify users, then user awareness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The display utilizes color changes (such as red indicators for locked-out functions and green for accessible functions) to communicate lockout status to users. This visual coding system provides immediate, intuitive awareness without requiring complex display interfaces or multiple indicator types
Data Source
AI summary
A patient support apparatus includes a frame, a support surface, a caregiver control panel, a patient control panel, and a controller. The caregiver control panel includes a lock out control that, when manually activated by a caregiver, locks out one or more particular controls on the patient control panel. The controller is also adapted to automatically lock out the one or more particular controls, irrespective of the state of the lock out control, in response to a triggering event. The triggering event may include one or more of the following: the arming of an exit detection system, the arming of a monitoring system, the passage of a predetermined time period, the use of a scale, the zeroing of the scale, the receipt of a fall risk score for the patient, etc. The caregiver control panel may allow the caregiver to select what patient controls are automatically locked out.