An inflatable convective pad for warming a person during surgery has two ends, two sides, and at least two openings, each located in an area of the pad between the two ends and between a respective side and the center of the pad. The openings, which may be in the form of slits, allow the threading of a sheet or the person's arms through the pad to restrain the arms during surgery.

The invention relates to a rescue stretcher for rescuing persons with an substantially rectangular, support litter which is configured to be rolled up and/or folded together and is made of a flexible, tear-resistant, water-proof sheet material, and with at least two fixed carrying loops on each longitudinal side of the rectangular support litter, wherein on the inner receiving surface of the support litter a cold protection unit consisting of a blanket-like heat maintaining element and, replaceably provided thereon a substrate configured to absorb bodily fluids, is detachable fastened and which when the support litter is being carried by the carrying loops forms an envelope-like, cold-insulated bedding for the person to be carried.

An underbody warming system may include a skin contacting surface configured to be positioned on the skin of a user. A plurality of thermoelectric devices may be provided. A first thermoelectric device of the plurality of thermoelectric devices may have a first temperature to create a first temperature gradient between the skin and the first thermoelectric device. A second thermoelectric device of the plurality of thermoelectric devices may have a second temperature different from the first temperature to create a second temperature gradient between the skin and the thermoelectric device. A first flow path may be configured to allow heat to flow between the skin and the first thermoelectric device. A second flow path may be configured to allow heat to flow between the skin and the second thermoelectric device.

An inflatable convective pad for warming a person during surgery has two ends, two sides, and at least two openings, each located in an area of the pad between the two ends and between a respective side and the center of the pad. The openings, which may be in the form of slits, allow the threading of a sheet or the person's arms through the pad to restrain the arms during surgery.

Apparatus and methods related to an underbody support for supporting a body of a being, such as during surgery to prevent contact pressure injuries. In certain embodiments, the underbody support may include one or more inflatable chambers enclosing a volume. At least one of the inflatable chambers may include one or more compression sensitive switches for monitoring the volume of the inflatable chamber, and the one or more compression sensitive switches may be located within the inflatable chamber. In some embodiments the one or more compression sensitive switches are sized to close when the said inflatable chamber is deflated to a desired residual volume.

In a nondestructive means of ectopic pregnancy management, a baby is delivered with the gestational sac intact and then submerged in an incubator containing ventilating fluid; the baby is placed in an absorbable transfer capsule and transcervically transferred to the uterine cavity; the capsule dissolves after a period of time to leave the gestational sac abutted to the endometrium so the baby can reattach. To maintain the baby's life support, the means includes fluidic ventilators and ventilation catheters to perfuse the gestational sac with ventilating fluid during such times as delivery, incubation, transfer, and reimplantation. Advantageously, the transfer capsule protects the baby during transfer and serves as a convenient vehicle for placing devices such as the ventilation catheter in the uterus along with the baby. An exemplary transfer capsule is flexible like a soft contact lens; hydrates with a solution containing nutrients and factors to promote the biomechanical interactions of implantation; and, being based on a hyaluronan hydrogel, dissolves in the uterine cavity to provide the baby and mother with hyaluronan which is known to benefit implantation. Hard shell absorbable transfer capsules are also provided for when structural support is needed.

A patient support apparatus includes an air supply and an air fluidization therapy bed including a fluidization space and a fluidizable medium positioned in the fluidization space. The air fluidization therapy bed receives a flow of pressurized air from the air supply. The flow of pressurized air operable to fluidize the fluidizable medium. The patient support apparatus is configured to provide other therapies, such as pulmonary therapies, in addition to the air fluidization therapy.

A microclimate management system including a person support surface including one or more sensors, a fluid supply device coupled to an inlet of the person support surface and configured to supply fluid to an outlet the person support surface, and a controller configured to detect an inlet condition value at the inlet of the person support surface, detect an outlet condition value at the outlet of the person support surface, determine a difference between the inlet condition value and the outlet condition value, and transmit a first alert in response to determining that a rate of change of the difference between the inlet condition value and the outlet condition value is below a lower condition threshold.

A support device including a plurality of cells, each cell being at least partially defined by a cell wall, a chamber, and a plurality of valves. Each valve is movable between an open position where the valve provides fluid communication between an associated cell and the chamber, and a closed position wherein the valve generally blocks fluid communication between the associated cell and the chamber. Each valve is configured to be biased to a closed position during use of the device. The device is configured such that when a predetermined force is applied to each cell during use the associated valve moves to the open position.

A patient support includes a cover defining an interior region, an air permeable first layer located in the interior region, and a support layer located beneath the air permeable first layer. A pressure sensing layer is located underneath the support layer. At least one air supply is coupled to the support layer. A controller is coupled to the air supply and to the pressure sensing layer. The controller controls inflation and deflation of the support layer in response to a signal from the pressure sensing layer.