An infant care station that includes multiple operational modules that communicate with each other to carry out the infant care station functions. The multiple modules form part of a micro-environmental platform that allows for communication and power connections between all of the operational components required within the infant care station. The multiple modules communicate with each other utilizing a universal interface bus that includes power connections, communication connections and control connections between the multiple modules. Sensor data obtained by various sensors is stored using a standard data format. A data repository is included in one of the modules and is used to store sensor data obtained from the infant patient, operational protocols and other information needed to operate the infant care station. The data repository provides a central location for both data producers and data subscribers that are part of the micro-environment platform.

A device for warming a medical patient includes a first layer and a radiolucent resistive heating element. The first layer is sized to be positioned under a medical patient. The radiolucent resistive heating element is proximate to the first layer and is configured to generate a thermal energy to warm the first layer to at least 37 C.

A temperature modulation system for a bed, blanket, or other furniture includes a fluid for moderating temperature change, a number of conduit circuits for directing the fluid through respective zones, a control unit including a thermoelectric device for modulating temperature of the fluid, and a pump. Each of the conduit circuits selectively and independently directs fluid through its respective zone in order to produce a temperature within the zone that is independent of the temperature outside the zone. The system also includes an arrangement of one or more zones in an arrangement in which the control unit is programmed to vary the zone temperature over time according to a schedule.

A patient support system for providing improved guidance and/or troubleshooting with respect to a patient support apparatus. A user interface is configured to receive inputs from a user, and an information output device is configured to provide instructions to the user. A controller determines a guidance protocol for the user based on the inputs. The guidance protocol comprises user-performed actions to be performed by the user in response to the instructions provided to the user with the information output device. The guidance protocol may be initiated and/or determined based on a troubleshooting request and/or an uncorrelated sequence of user inputs. At least one of the user-performed actions may be configured to control operational functions of a patient support apparatus. Methods for improving patient care by providing the guidance and/or troubleshooting are also disclosed.

A device (4) aligns and connects a housing hood (3) to a housing (2). The device (4) has a first connecting piece (5) and a second connecting piece (6). The first connecting piece (5) has a clamp bearing element (51) and the second connecting piece (6) has a lamella element (61). The lamella element (61) is arranged movably along the clamp bearing element (51). The device (4) has a clamping element (7) for clearance-free clamping the lamella element (61) with the clamp bearing element (51). An alignment of the hood (3) on a housing (2) can be carried out simply and rapidly and requires only weak clamping forces.

A microclimate system includes an air box, a disposable incontinence pad, and a mattress. The incontinence pad serves as an incontinent event detector. The disposable incontinence pad may be configured to conduct air along an interface of the disposable incontinence pad to withdraw heat and moisture from a patient and cools and dries the patient's skin in order to reduce the risk of bed sore formation. The mattress may include a microclimate management layer that provides conditioned air to withdraw heat and moisture from the disposable incontinence pad thereby keeping the patient's skin cool and dry in order to reduce the risk of bed sore formation.

An infant warming system includes a body temperature probe, a peripheral temperature probe, and at least two identical input jacks, each input jack configured to receive either one of the first connector or the second connector. The body temperature probe has a body temperature sensor removably fixable to an infant's torso to measure a body temperature of the infant, and a first connector configured to connect to an input jack to transmit the body temperature measurement. The peripheral temperature probe includes a peripheral temperature sensor removably fixable to the infant's extremity to measure a peripheral temperature of the infant, and a second connector configured to connect to an input jack to transmit the peripheral temperature measurement. The system further includes a probe detection module to automatically detect whether each input jack is connected to the peripheral temperature probe or the body temperature probe.

An integrated and modular air and lighting plenum that is the primary directional lighting mounting apparatus and laminar flow diffuser of an HVAC system in a healthcare setting. The plenum provides laminar air flow from the ceiling to the room in which it is located in accordance with HVAC requirements for healthcare environment settings, by using a plurality of cylindrical airflow outlets. The use of cylindrical airflow outlets promotes laminar airflow by reducing sharp boundaries that induce turbulence (e.g., the corners of rectangular or square outlets) and creates a highly sterile environment around the patient and staff in the operating room. The surgical lights used in the integrated air and lighting plenum allow the beam direction, spot size, focal point, brightness, and color temperature of the emitted light to be controlled.

A patient warming system for stabilizing and/or heating and cooling a patient includes a plurality of solid-surface sections arranged for attachment to a surgical table and a warming pad layer comprising a plurality of warming pads configured for removable connection to the plurality of solid-surface sections. At least one of the plurality of solid-surface sections includes a power connector for connection to an external power source. Each warming pad of the plurality of warming pads includes a foam insulation layer, a distributed heating element layer having a warming-pad power connection for connection to the power connector, an isothermal layer, and a flexible waterproof layer. Power supplied to the warming-pad power connection of the distributed heating element layer of the respective warming pad can be used to provide a user-selected uniform temperature over the surface of the flexible waterproof layer in order to prevent hot spots.

A mattress includes a first, phase changeable component and a thermal management system adapted to control the temperature of the phase changeable component in order to change the firmness of the mattress. In one embodiment the phase changeable component includes two dimensional lattices separated from each other and a spring element extending between the lattices. Some embodiments of the mattress include an optional single phase component. The firmness can be made spatially and/or temporally uniform or nonuniform, and can be controlled based on one or more sensed parameters.