Hill-rom Services, Inc.

Kimberly-clark Worldwide, Inc.

Avent, Inc.

Georgia Tech Research Corporation

Medical College of Georgia Research Institute, Inc.

Michael Z Sleva

Andrew F Skinner

John Alan Bobey

Joe Cesa

John Gavin MacDonald

Richard Henry Heimbrock

Richard B Stacy

Javier Verdura

David W Hornbach

David C Newkirk

Mayur Yermaneni

Robert Petrosenko

Eric R Meyer

Gregory W Branson

Keith Adam Huster

Jonathan H Mueller

Stephen R Schulte

Brian Joseph Cuevas

Daniel Kurt Stevens

Todd P O'Neal

Stephen L Douglas

David Lokhorst

Rachel Hopkins King

Sohrab Soltani

Joseph A Cesa

Scott M Teixeira

Sam C Chan

Colin Clarke

Marjory J Greenhalgh

Kenith W Chambers

John P Biondo

Christopher Ryan O'Keefe

Sandy Mark Richards

Bradley Thomas Wilson

Jeffrey S Lockwood

William L Jacques, Ii

Stephen Avedis Baratian

Adrienne A Hershey

James Frederick Schumacher

Michael A Kenowski

Karen Janoff

Karen M Gove

Teresa Maria Mirabella

Paula M Cooper

Catherine A Pietsch

Jeffrey Eldon Fish

Jason Lye

Khoa Tuan Lien

William D Hunt

Molly K Smith

Ryan Clinton Frank

Mike Kenowski

Alan Grady Shuman

Allison Salyer Bagwell

Jennifer Sturm

David M Lokhorst

Tamika Wiggins

Rachel Elizabeth Hopkins

Ronald D Briggs

David M Connuck

Rachel H Elizabeth Hopkins

Stephen A Baratian

Alan Shuman

Christopher R O'KEEFE

James F Schumacher

Ryan C Frank

Craig Mcneely

Daniel K Stevens

James Schumacher

Marjory Greenhalgh

William L Iii Jacques

Rachel Hopkins

A patient support apparatus includes a bed frame having a head end and a foot end and control circuitry carried by the bed frame. The control circuitry receives information about conditions of the patient support apparatus. A light is coupled to the bed frame adjacent the foot end and is coupled to the control circuitry. The light is in a first state when the patient support apparatus is operating normally and the light is in a second state when the control circuitry detects an alert condition.

Foot zone of a mattress

Patient support apparatus having alert light

A subglottic suctioning system with a tracheal tube having a ventilation lumen, a cuff inflation lumen, and a suction lumen are disclosed which may help reduce the incidence of ventilator associated (or acquired) pneumonia. The suction lumen communicates with the space in the trachea above the cuff where secretions accumulate. The suction lumen has a valve on the proximal end for connection to a source of vacuum. The valve is adapted to interrupt the supply of vacuum to the suction lumen to allow for the introduction of a rinsing fluid in its place and to automatically re-establish the connection to the source of vacuum upon completion of rinsing. The rinsing fluid aids in maintaining an open suction lumen and may include medicaments and mucolytic agents to enhance or promote healing or to alter the properties of the mucus to make removal easier. The user may easily and repeatedly alternate suction and rinsing fluid through the suction lumen, i.e., the user may 'pulse' the line to loosen, break up and remove secretions and deposits that may partially or completely block or clog the suction lumen.

Subglottic suctioning system

A system for compression therapy includes a patient-support apparatus and a compression sleeve assembly that is coupleable to the patient-support apparatus. In some embodiments, the patient-support apparatus includes a hospital bed and in other embodiments, the patient-support apparatus includes a mattress for a bed. The compression sleeve assembly includes a sleeve that couples to a patient's limb and that inflates to promote blood flow. The compression sleeve assembly also includes a conduit and a compression module that is operable to inflate the sleeve through the conduit. The conduit may be routed, at least in part, through the associated patient-support apparatus. The compression module may be situated, at least in part, in a cavity of the associated patient-support apparatus. A compression module may be coupled to an architectural structure, such as a headwall unit.

System for compression therapy

There is provided a balloon cuffed tracheostomy tube with a balloon designed so as to enhance the tube's anchorability without sealing the tracheal stoma. The tracheostomy tube device includes a conventional curved hollow tube. The distal end of the tube is adapted for insertion through a tracheal stoma and into the tracheal lumen of a patient's throat. The device further includes an inflatable balloon enveloping a portion of the tube. The balloon has a distal portion substantially centered about and attached to the distal end portion of the tube. The balloon also has a proximal portion attached to the bend region of the tube and positioned substantially off-center relative to the proximal portion of the tube and about the bend region below the proximal plane of the device. Upon inflation, this configuration provides for expansion of the balloon around the distal end portion of the tube and the proximal end portion of the tube below the proximal plane of the device to seal the trachea below the tracheal stoma and to avoid sealing the trachea above the tracheal stoma. This configuration of the balloon should allow secretions to exit the stoma so that they do not accumulate and become a possible source of ventilator acquired pneumonia.

Balloon cuff tracheostomy tube

A patient support surface including a cover defining an interior region, a layer of three dimensional material, located at the interior region, and an air circulation device disposed adjacent the layer of three dimensional material. The patient support surface includes at least one of a percussion device and a vibration device, located at the interior region.

Pulmonary mattress

There is provided a method of making a balloon having a differential thickness. The method uses a raw tube composed of a thermoplastic polymer which is placed in an asymmetrical mold. The tube is preheated in the mold to a temperature sufficient to soften the material of the tube and inflated with a gas to generally uniformly stretch the material of the tube while allowing the tube to retract lengthwise, thus forming a balloon. The resulting completed balloon has a differential wall thickness wherein the upper region has a thickness of from about 15 to about 30 micrometers and the lower region has a thickness of from about 5 to about 15 micrometers.

Method of making an improved balloon cuff tracheostomy tube

There is provided a method for performing a tracheotomy. In this method a tracheostomy dilator has a body and a tip which are detachably attached. The tip has a proximal inner portion which is within the body while the tip is attached to the body. The dilator is inserted into the trachea and used to dilate an opening. After the trachea has been dilated, the body may be detached and removed from the tip, the tip remaining partially in the trachea. A dilator loading catheter installed within a tracheostomy tube may be mated with the tip and the tip, loading catheter and tracheostomy tube moved into the trachea. After the tracheostomy tube is installed, the tip and loading catheter may be withdrawn through the tracheostomy tube and the tracheostomy tube placed in service.

Method of performing a tracheostomy

This disclosure describes a mattress having a plurality of vertically-oriented inflatable bladders and a pneumatic box located inside the mattress. In one embodiment, the patient support includes a plurality of pressure sensors positioned underneath the bladders. In still another embodiment, the patient support includes one or more filler portions that are selectable so that the patient support may conform to bed frames having different deck configurations.

Patient support

This disclosure describes a control unit for a patient support, such as a mattress. One embodiment of the control unit includes a base portion and a display portion pivotably coupled to the base portion. The control unit may also include one or more communication ports for sending or receiving data from one or more remote devices over a network. The control unit may also include a memory port into which memory may be removably inserted. The control unit may also include a visual indicator configured to be activated by a triggering event, such as a patient exiting the mattress. The display unit may include a touchscreen user interface. The display unit may also be configured to display audiovisual material.

Control unit for patient support

A lack of patient movement monitor and method. The monitor and method patient support includes a plurality of sensors located beneath a patient support to determine movement of a patient. An alarm is activated when patient movement over time is determined to be lacking.

Graphical patient movement monitor

Growing community of inventors

Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Michael Z Sleva