Method for detection of migration on an occupant support with a migration sensitive bladder
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Solution Overview
Problem
Patients in hospital beds often migrate to nonoptimal positions due to articulating and therapeutic features, leading to undesirable shear stresses on the skin, necessitating a method to monitor and correct their position effectively.
Innovation Solution
A system with pressurizable bladders in the head and foot zones of a hospital bed, connected to a controller that compares pressure changes to set limits to infer occupant migration, using stability tests and pressure rate analysis to determine if the occupant has moved longitudinally.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If articulating and therapeutic features are provided in the hospital bed, then patient comfort and therapy effectiveness are improved, but occupant migration occurs leading to nonoptimal positioning and skin shear stresses
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of occupant position using pressure sensors in the mattress bladders before migration causes harmful effects. By continuously monitoring pressure distributions and detecting changes that indicate migration trends, the system can alert caregivers or automatically adjust bed parameters to prevent the occupant from reaching positions that would cause skin shear stresses
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes feedback loops by continuously measuring pressure changes in the mattress and providing information about occupant position to the control system. This feedback enables real-time monitoring and allows for corrective actions to be taken to maintain optimal positioning and prevent harmful shear stresses on the skin
2Measurement precision
If pressure sensors and monitoring systems are added to detect occupant migration, then migration detection accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mattress bladder system serves multiple functions: it provides structural support for the occupant, delivers therapeutic inflation/deflation, and simultaneously acts as a pressure sensing element for migration detection. By integrating these functions into a single system, the patent avoids adding separate complex sensor arrays while achieving accurate migration detection through pressure change monitoring
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively detects occupant migration, allowing for timely corrective actions to maintain optimal positioning and reduce shear stresses, thereby improving patient comfort and care.
Implementation Method 1
A system with pressurizable bladders in the head and foot zones of a hospital bed, connected to a controller that compares pressure changes to set limits
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for detecting occupant position change on a support surface includes establishing a rate of change of pressure in a head end test zone and in a foot end test zone, comparing the head end rate to at least one head end rate limit, comparing the foot end rate to at least one foot end rate limit, and inferring, in response to the comparing steps, whether or not occupant migration has occurred. An associated occupant support includes a frame and a mattress. The mattress includes head and foot zones each having at least one pressurizable bladder. The support also includes a controller adapted to compare a head end pressure change to a head end change limit, to compare a foot end pressure change to a foot end change limit, and to infer, in response to the comparing steps, whether or not occupant migration has occurred.