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AssigneeDatex-Ohmada, Inc.
InventorsMichael H. MacKin, Christopher A. Dykes
Estimating the term…
A patient care apparatus and method where the apparatus has an audible sound producing device that sounds an audible alarm when a particular alarm condition is sensed with respect to a patient or the apparatus itself. The apparatus includes a non-hand contact alarm silence switch that can be activated to silence the audible alarm. That non-hand contact alarm silence switch can be activated by various means that do not involve an object or person actually contacting the switch by any portion of the care provider that would be expected to remain in sterile conditions. Various technologies can be used for the non-hand contact alarm silence switch including proximity sensing, optical sensing, temperature sensing, air pressure sensing or voice command, any one of which can activate the switch without the need to make physical contact of the alarm silence switch by a person or object. In one embodiment, the apparatus has a foot-operated alarm silence switch.
A patient care apparatus for use with a patient, said patient care apparatus comprising a means to sense an alarm condition, an audible alarm sounding device, means responsive to the sensed alarm condition to cause said audible alarm sounding device to produce an audible sound, and a non-hand contact alarm silence switch operable by a care provider for silencing the alarm sounding device, said non-hand contact alarm silence switch being activatable without physical contact by a hand of a care provider.
A system for silencing an audible alarm of a patient care apparatus without contact by a user, said system comprising an audible alarm device, a sensor activatable by the presence of an alarm condition to send a signal to the audible alarm device to produce an audible alarm indicative of the alarm condition and a non-hand contact alarm silence switch adapted to be activated without physical contact with a hand of a care provider to disable said audible alarm device to silence the audible alarm.
A method of silencing the audible alarm on a patient care apparatus, said method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.