A system for monitoring medical conditions including pressure ulcers, pressure-induced ischemia and related medical conditions comprises at least one sensor adapted to detect one or more patient characteristic including at least position, orientation, temperature, acceleration, moisture, resistance, stress, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood oxygenation, a host for processing the data received from the sensors together with historical patient data to develop an assessment of patient condition and suggested course of treatment, including either suspending or adjusting turn schedule based on various types of patient movement. Compliance with Head-of-Bed protocols can also be performed based on actual patient position instead of being inferred from bed elevation angle. The sensor can include bi-axial or tri-axial accelerometers, as well as resistive, inductive, capacitive, magnetic and other sensing devices, depending on whether the sensor is located on the patient or the support surface, and for what purpose.

A patient support, such as a mattress, includes a plurality of inflatable bladders. Depth sensors are included in the support that measure the degree of penetration of a patient into the mattress. An air pressure sensor is also included that measures the pressure inside at least one bladder. A suitable inflation level of the mattress is determined by monitoring the rate of change of the depth with respect to air pressure as the bladder is either inflated or deflated. By detecting an inflection point in the graphical relationship of the depth and pressure outputs, a suitable inflation point for the bladders is determined that reduces interface pressures experienced by the patient, yet does not overly sink the patient into the mattress to a degree of discomfort. Analyzing the outputs of the depth and pressure sensors can also be used to detect a patient's heart rate and respiration rate.

A patient support is provided. The patient support may include a plurality of inflatable members. The plurality of inflatable members may include a core including a resilient material. The patient support may be controlled with a first controller positioned within an envelope of the patient support. The patient support may include a detector to detect when an external controller is coupled to the patient support, the patient support being controlled by the second controller when the second controller is present.

A reduced outflow valve in fluid communication with an inflatable apparatus comprising a tubular body defining an inner bore and a plunger slidingly engaged in the bore. Inflation of the inflatable apparatus urges the plunger to a first position configured to allow rapid ingress of air into the cushion to inflate the cushion and deflation of the inflatable apparatus urges the plunger to a second position wherein the plunger is configured as a baffle to dampen or slow air egress during release of air.

Pressure modulating soft actuator array devices and related systems and methods. One example of the present systems comprises: a device having a body that defines a plurality of cavities; a pressure source configured to be in fluid communication with the plurality of cavities; a plurality of sensors configured to capture data indicative of pressure within the plurality of cavities; and one or more controllers configured to actuate the pressure source to move fluid toward and/or away from one or more of the plurality of cavities in response to data captured by the plurality of sensors; wherein the device is configured to be disposed between a user and a surface on which the user is seated upon.

The present disclosure relates to patient support systems, such as hospital beds, and particularly to reconfigurable patient support systems movable among a number of different positions. The present disclosure further relates to control algorithms and interfaces for use in patient support systems.

The present invention is directed to a mattress which is useful for people who have had gluteal surgery such as but not limited to gluteoplasty, commonly known as a Brazilian Butt Lift, Butt Implants, Fat Transfer, Fat Grafting, Liposuction, Pilonidal cystectomy, or other procedures affecting the lower rear area of a human trunk, which result in a person being uncomfortable when lying supine or sitting after the surgery or other procedure. The mattress in certain embodiments has an opening with at least one tube-shaped cushion which is adjustable for people with different body sizes and stages of recovery. The at least one tube-shaped cushion may be continuous, toroidal, round, square, rectangular, triangular, or any regular or irregular shape that would fit the buttocks. The at least one tube-shaped cushion may be inflatable, detachable, or permanently affixed in the opening. The mattress in certain embodiments may have the at least one tube-shaped cushion concentrically placed. The mattress in certain embodiments may have a raised back support for comfort along with a raised foot support to reduce the chance of blood clots. In other embodiments, the mattress can have an opening on a top or first side and a larger opening on a bottom or second side so that the mattress is reversible to accommodate different body sizes and stages of recovery. In other embodiments, the mattress may have at least one tube-shaped cushion in an opening on a top or first side and a larger opening on a bottom or second side to accommodate different body sizes and different stages of recovery. In other embodiments, the mattress may have a lumbar and thigh support which may be adjustable. The mattress and the tube-shaped cushion may be self-inflating in the case that they are inflatable.

A caregiver assistance system is disclosed for helping caregivers manage the care of existing bed sores and/or reduce the risk of a patient developing bed sores. The system may also help the caregiver to perform rounding tasks and/or to reduce the likelihood of patient falls. The system comprises a server application in communication with the patient's bed and one or more mobile electronic devices (e.g. smart phones). The mobile devices receive individual assessments of a plurality of bed sore risk factors and forward them to the server. The server generates bed sore risk scores from the answers and forward them to an EMR server. The server may also determine one or more risk reduction steps, display them on the mobile electronic device, and/or forward them to the patients' beds for implementation thereon. Additional bed sore information may be captured and sent to the EMR.

The present invention relates to a pneumatic structure (10) comprising an inextensible body (12) defining at least a network of internal cavities (14), each cavity having a closed contour in at least one section of the cavity

Each cavity being suitable for being pressurized so as to change the inextensible body from a rest configuration to at least one pressurized configuration,

Inextensible body having, in each pressurized configuration, a macroscopic metric different from its macroscopic metric in the rest configuration,

Each cavity being formed of at least two substantially rectilinear channels, each channel being fluidly connected to at least one of the other channels, the two said channels forming a heading change angle,

Each cavity comprising at least one non-zero heading change angle, in particular at least three non-zero heading change angles.

A body state determination device includes a detection unit that is configured to detect a plurality of pressure distributions formed by a body weight of a user, and a determination unit that is configured to determine a state of a body of the user by comparing the plurality of pressure distributions detected by the detection unit with each other.