Hospital Bed Motion Control for IV Line Tension Alarms
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hospital beds with movable mattress support sections often cause patient care lines to become inadvertently tensioned or disconnected due to catching on bed siderails or equipment, leading to potential blockages or kinking, which can result in alarms and disruptions in medical treatment.
Innovation Solution
A patient support apparatus with control circuitry that receives signals from medical devices indicating unwanted conditions in patient care lines, such as tensioning, kinking, or blockages, and automatically ceases the operation of movable sections to prevent disconnection, using sensors and actuators integrated with line management devices to manage patient care lines and prevent unwanted tension.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the bed sections are moved to reposition the patient, then the patient positioning is improved, but the patient care lines may become tensioned or disconnected
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses sensors to detect tension in patient care lines during bed movement and provides feedback to the control circuitry, which then stops the actuator to prevent disconnection. This closed-loop feedback mechanism resolves the contradiction by allowing movement while monitoring for harmful tension conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary detection of line tension conditions before disconnection occurs. The sensor continuously monitors line status during actuator operation, enabling preventive stopping before the harmful effect of disconnection happens.
2Reliability
If sensors and control circuitry are added to detect line conditions, then the reliability of patient care line connection is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a line management device as an intermediary component that houses the sensor and provides a structured interface between the patient care line and the bed system. This mediator organizes the monitoring function and simplifies integration into the existing bed structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The control circuitry is designed to handle multiple functions: normal bed position control, receiving alarm signals from sensors, and stopping actuators based on line tension detection. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated components for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
A bed for use with a patient coupled to a medical device via at least one patient care line is provided. The bed includes a frame including at least one movable patient support section and an actuator coupled to the movable patient support section. The actuator is operable to move the movable patient support section. The bed also includes control circuitry that is coupled to the actuator to command operation of the actuator. The control circuitry ceases operation of the actuator in response to receiving a signal indicative of an unwanted condition of the at least one patient care line.