Person support apparatus including intubation assistance bladders
AssigneeHill-Rom Services, Inc.
InventorsKathryn Ruth Smith, Timothy Michael Volk, Jnanesha Ramegowda, Taylor Vohland
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A person support apparatus including a person support surface having a head section and a foot section opposite the head section, a bladder positionable between a non-inflated state and an inflated state, the bladder positioned at the head section of the person support surface, a fluid supply device in fluid communication with the bladder, the fluid supply device storing a fluid, and a controller communicatively coupled to the fluid supply device and configured to operate the fluid supply device to deliver the fluid to the bladder and position the bladder between the non-inflated state and the inflated state.
Claims18
A person support apparatus, comprising:
- a person support surface having a head section and a foot section opposite the head section;
- a bladder positionable between a non-inflated state and an inflated state, the bladder positioned at the head section of the person support surface, the bladder comprising:
- a bladder body having a front end, a rear end opposite the front end, an upper wall, and a lower wall opposite the upper wall;
- and
- a plurality of baffles spaced apart from one another along an axis extending between the front end and the rear end of the bladder body, the plurality of baffles each comprising:
- an exposed portion provided at an outer surface of the upper wall of the bladder body;
- and
- an extending portion extending from opposite ends of the exposed portion and through the bladder body to the lower wall of the bladder body to restrict a height of the bladder body when in the inflated state;
- a fluid supply device in fluid communication with the bladder, the fluid supply device storing a fluid;
- and
- a controller communicatively coupled to the fluid supply device and configured to operate the fluid supply device to deliver the fluid to the bladder and position the bladder between the non-inflated state and the inflated state.
A method, comprising:
- positioning a bladder within a support layer of a person support surface of a person support apparatus and at a head section of the person support surface, the bladder comprising:
- a bladder body having a front end, a rear end opposite the front end, an upper wall, and a lower wall opposite the upper wall;
- and
- a plurality of baffles spaced apart from one another along an axis extending between the front end and the rear end of the bladder body, the plurality of baffles each comprising:
- an exposed portion provided at an outer surface of the upper wall of the bladder body;
- and
- an extending portion extending from opposite ends of the exposed portion and through the bladder body to the lower wall of the bladder body to restrict a height of the bladder body when in the inflated state;
- transmitting a signal from a controller to a fluid supply device in fluid communication with a bladder;
- and
- delivering, by the fluid supply device in response to receiving the signal from the controller, fluid stored within the fluid supply device to the bladder to position the bladder into an inflated state from a non-inflated state,
- wherein, when the bladder is in the inflated state, the bladder has a varying height across a longitudinal axis of the person support surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.