Patient Bed Manual Location Interface for Wireless Room Association
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Solution Overview
Problem
Healthcare facilities without nurse call systems that utilize wireless patient beds face challenges in accurately determining the room locations of these beds due to RF signal interference, making it difficult to associate beds with specific rooms reliably.
Innovation Solution
A patient bed equipped with a frame, circuitry, and a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows caregivers to manually enter location data, which is transmitted wirelessly after a threshold period and optionally accompanied by voice prompts, enabling bed-to-room association.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If wireless communication is used for patient beds, then ease of operation and installation are improved, but location determination accuracy deteriorates due to RF signal interference
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a bed interface unit as an intermediary device that receives wireless signals from the patient bed and processes location determination. This intermediary layer helps filter and validate signals, improving location accuracy while maintaining wireless operation. The bed interface unit acts as a mediator between the wireless bed system and the location tracking system.
2Measurement precision
If manual location entry is implemented, then location determination accuracy is improved, but device complexity and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides self-service location determination by automatically detecting when a bed is moved to a new location and prompting the user to enter location information only when necessary. The bed interface unit monitors bed position changes and triggers manual entry only at appropriate moments, reducing overall user burden while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements periodic location verification by monitoring bed movement and prompting for location updates only when movement is detected. This periodic approach rather than continuous manual entry reduces time consumption and user burden while maintaining accurate location tracking.
3Reliability
If wired connections are used for nurse call systems, then location determination reliability is improved, but ease of operation and installation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical wired connection system with a wireless communication system for patient beds. The bed interface unit processes wireless signals to determine location, substituting the physical cable connection with radio frequency communication while maintaining location tracking functionality through signal processing and bed movement detection.
Data Source
AI summary
A graphical user interface (GUI) of a patient bed is used by a caregiver to manually enter location data indicative of a location in a healthcare facility at which the patient bed is located. A first screen for manually entering location data is displayed on the GUI after a threshold period of time elapses subsequent to a power plug of the patient bed being plugged into an alternating current (AC) outlet of the healthcare facility and subsequent to casters of the patient bed being braked. A voice prompt is also given from the patient bed after the threshold period of time elapses to remind the caregiver to manually enter the location data. After manual entry of the location data, circuitry of the patient bed transmits the location data entered by the caregiver and a bed identification (ID) from the bed for receipt by a remote computer for purposes of making a bed-to-room association.