Patient support with deck width monitoring and control
A patient support, such as a bed, a cot, a stretcher, or the like, for supporting an occupant includes sensors adapted to detect a status of the patient support, such as the width of the width-adjustable patient support component or the locked or unlocked state of the patient support component. A control system for the patient support is configured to determine if the patient support is in an unacceptable status, such as an unacceptable width configuration or an unlocked state, based on the sensed status. The control system is adapted to issue an alert or take action or prompt a caregiver to take an action if the patient support status is unacceptable.
1 . A patient support comprising:
a patient support component, the patient support component being an adjustable width component having an adjustable width relative to a longitudinal axis of the patient support such that a change in the width of the adjustable width component changes an overall width of the patient support, said adjustable width component including a latch mechanism to lock the width of the adjustable width component;
a control system comprising:
a sensor adapted to detect a locked status of the latch mechanism indicative of the latch mechanism of the adjustable width component being locked at a current width of the adjustable width component and at a corresponding overall width of the patient support, the sensor being adapted to detect the width status of the adjustable width component, the sensor being adapted to generate a signal based on the locked status and the width status; and
a controller in communication with the sensor and configured to receive the signal, the controller configured to determine, based on the signal, whether the latch mechanism is locked or unlocked for the adjustable width component.
2 . The patient support of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to determine the width of the patient support component based on the signal from the sensor.
3 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the patient support component includes a plurality of deck sections, each of said deck sections having an adjustable width, and said latch mechanism comprising a latch mechanism for each deck section.
4 . The patient support of claim 3 , wherein the widths of the deck section are independently adjustable.
5 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is adapted to detect the width status of the patient support component based on a characteristic of the latch mechanism.
6 . The patient support of claim 4 , further comprising a patient support deck frame having a fixed section and a movable section, and two or more latch pin cutouts in either the fixed section or the movable section of the patient support deck frame, the latch pin cutouts having varying dimensions, the latch pin having a stepped diameter and being mounted to the other of the fixed section or the movable section, wherein the latch pin is receivable by a respective latch pin cutout of the two or more latch pin cutouts when the movable section of the patient support deck frame moves to a position corresponding to a designated width of the patient support component, and the latch pin being adapted to extend into the respective latch pin cutout to a depth as allowed by the stepped diameter of the latch pin and the dimension of the respective latch pin cutout.
7 . The patient support of claim 3 , wherein the characteristic of the latch pin is the profile of the latch pin.
8 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the latch mechanism includes a latch pin, wherein the characteristic is a characteristic of the latch pin.
9 . The patient support of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to sense if the latch pin is extended into a respective latch pin cutout to thereby sense the locked condition or the unlocked condition of the latch pin and to determine a corresponding width of the patient support component based on the sensed depth at which the latch pin extends into the respective latch pin cutout.
10 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the control system comprises:
a second sensor adapted to sense a width of the patient support component; and
the controller being in communication with the second sensor, the controller configured to determine if the patient support component is in an unacceptable width configuration based on the sensed width of the patient support component and adapted to generate a signal to issue an alert or a prompt to a caregiver to take action, if the patient support component is determined to be in an unacceptable width configuration.
11 . The patient support of claim 10 , comprising a sensor system including the second sensor and adapted to sense multiple acceptable discrete widths of the patient support component, the second sensor being an optical sensor configured to sense light reflected from the reflective surface, wherein each of the multiple acceptable discrete widths is associated with one of the multiple different sections of the reflective surface such that each of the multiple acceptable discrete widths is associated with a different reflectivity of the reflective surface; and
wherein the controller is configured to sense a width of the patient support component corresponding to one of the multiple acceptable discrete widths based on the light reflected from the reflective surface and sensed by the optical sensor, the controller configured to determine if the patient support component is in an acceptable width configuration based on a sensed width of the patient support component corresponding to one of the multiple acceptable discrete widths.
12 . The patient support of claim 1 , wherein the patient support component is a patient support deck.
13 . A control system for a patient support, the patient support including a patient support component being an adjustable width component having an adjustable width relative to a longitudinal axis of the patient support such that a change in the width of the adjustable width component changes an overall width of the patient support, the adjustable width component including a latch mechanism operable to lock the width of the patient support component, the control system comprising:
a sensor system adapted to detect a status of the latch mechanism indicative of the latch mechanism of the adjustable width component being locked at a current width of the adjustable width component and at a corresponding overall width of the patient support, said sensor system adapted to detect a component status of the adjustable width component, the sensor system operable to generate a signal based on at least one of the status and the component status; and
a controller in communication with the sensor system and configured to receive the signal, the controller configured to determine, based on the signal, whether the latch mechanism is locked or unlocked for the adjustable width component.
14 . The control system of claim 13 wherein the status of the latch mechanism corresponds to a lock status of the latch mechanism, and wherein the component status of the patient support component corresponds to a width status of the patient support component.
15 . The control system of claim 13 wherein the controller is configured to determine the width of the patient support component.
16 . The control system of claim 13 wherein the sensor system is configured to detect the status of the patient support component based on a characteristic of the latch mechanism.
17 . The control system of claim 13 wherein the latch mechanism includes a latch pin, and wherein the sensor system is configured to determine the status of the latch mechanism based on a characteristic of the latch pin.
18 . The control system of claim 17 , wherein the characteristic of the latch pin is the profile of the latch pin.
19 . The control system of claim 17 , wherein the sensor system is configured to sense if the latch pin is extended into a respective latch pin cutout to thereby sense a locked condition or an unlocked condition of the latch pin, wherein the status of the latch mechanism is based on whether the latch pin is in the locked condition or the unlocked condition.
20 . The control system of claim 19 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a corresponding width of the patient support component based on a sensed depth at which the latch pin extends into the respective latch pin cutout.