Patient activity detection system and method

A system for determining a level of activity of a patient in a patient support apparatus having at least one load cell, the system comprising:

• a non-transitory storage medium storing computer-readable instructions thereon;
• and
• at least one processor operatively connected to the non-transitory storage medium and to the at least one load cell, the at least one processor, upon executing the computer-readable instructions, being configured for:
• continuously receiving, from each of the at least one load cell, a respective weight component exerted by the patient;
• determining, based on the respective weight components, a total weight detected by the at least one load cell;
• determining, based on the respective weight components and the total weight, changes in the total weight detected by the at least one load cell over a given period of time;
• computing, based on at least one of a magnitude of the changes in the total weight and a time duration of the changes in the total weight, a total weight-change based operational characteristic representative of patient agitation in the patient support apparatus;
• determining a level of activity of the patient during the given period of time based on the total weight-change based operational characteristic;
• and
• outputting, to a user interface operatively connected to the at least one processor, the level of activity of the patient.

A patient support apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of load cells, each load cell being configured for detecting a respective weight;
• a non-transitory storage medium storing computer-readable instructions thereon;
• and
• at least one processor operatively connected to the non-transitory storage medium and to the plurality of load cells, the at least one processor, upon executing the computer-readable instructions, being configured for:
• determining, based on the respective weights, a total weight detected by the at least one load cell;
• determining, based on the respective weights, changes in the total weight detected by the at least one load cell over a given period of time;
• computing a total weight-change based operational characteristic of the changes in the total weight based on at least one of a magnitude and a time duration of the changes in total weight, the total weight-change based operational characteristic being representative of patient agitation in the patient support apparatus;
• computing a level of activity of the patient during the given period of time based on the total weight-change based operational characteristic;
• and
• outputting, to a user interface operatively connected to the at least one processor, an indication of the level of activity of the patient.