Hospital bed with guard rail actuated safety apparatus

In a hospital bed having a frame, a patient support assembly mounted to the frame, a pair of left and right guard rails on opposite sides of the patient support assembly and means for mounting the guard rails to the frame for movement between relatively operative and inoperative positions in which they are relatively more and less effective to restrain the patient against lateral movement off the side of the patient support assembly directly associated therewith, the improvement being a guard rail actuated safety apparatus, comprising:

• an alarm;
• means for sensing when both of the pair of said guard rails are in a relatively inoperative position;
• and
• means responsive to said sensing means for actuating the alarm in response to both of said guard rails being sensed in an inoperative position.

In a hospital bed having a frame, a patient support assembly mounted to the frame, a pair of left and right guard rails on opposite sides of the patient support assembly and means for mounting the guard rails to the frame for movement between relative inoperative and operative positions in which they are relatively less and more effective to restrain the patient against lateral movement off the side of the patient support directly associated therewith, the improvement being a guard rail actuated safety apparatus, comprising:

• an alarm condition responsive means for initiating patient protection measures;
• means for sensing when at least one of the guard rails is in an inoperative position;
• a resettable timer for measuring a preselected time period;
• means responsive to said sensing means for actuating said timer to initiate measurement of said preselected time period when the at least one guard rail is moved to the inoperative position;
• means responsive to said sensing means for resetting said timer when the at least one guard rail is moved to an operative position;
• and
• means for actuating said alarm condition responsive means in response to lapse of said preselected time period before the timer is reset.

In a hospital bed having a frame, a patient support assembly mounted to the frame, a pair of left and right guard rails on opposite sides of the patient support assembly and means for mounting the guard rails to the frame for movement between relatively inoperative and operative positions in which they are relatively less and more effective to restrain the patient against lateral movement off the side of the patient support assembly directly associated therewith, the improvement being a guard rail actuated safety apparatus, comprising:

• means for initiating at least one patient protection measure in response to an alarm condition;
• means for sensing when at least one of the pair of guard rails is in its operative position;
• means for detecting the presence of a person standing adjacent the at least one guard rail;
• means responsive to both the sensing means and the detecting means for actuating the alarm condition responsive means in response to the at least one guard rail being in an inoperative position except when the presence of a person standing next to the at least one guard rail is being detected.

In a hospital bed having a frame, a patient support assembly mounted for adjustable movement relative to the frame, a pair of left and right guard rails on opposite left and right sides of the patient support assembly and means for mounting the guard rails to the frame for movement between inoperative and operative positions in which they are relatively less and more effective to restrain the patient against lateral movement off the side of the patient support assembly directly associated therewith, the improvement being a guard rail actuated safety apparatus, comprising:

• means for preventing adjustment of the patient support assembly relative to the frame;
• means for sensing when at least one of said guard rails is in an inoperative position;
• and
• means responsive to said sensing means for actuating the adjustment preventing means.

In a bed with a frame, a patient support assembly mounted to the frame and having a pressurizable member of a medical apparatus for interacting with the patient's body resting thereon, a pair of left and right guard rails opposite left and right sides of the patient support assembly and means for mounting the guard rails for movement between relatively inoperative and operative positions in which they are relatively less and more effective to restrain a patient against lateral movement off a side of the patient support assembly directly adjacent thereto, the improvement being a guard rail actuated safety apparatus, comprising:

• means for depressurizing said pressurizable member;
• means for sensing when at least one of the guard rails is in an inoperative position;
• and
• means responsive to said sensing means detecting a guard rail in an inoperative position for actuating said depressurizing means to depressurize said pressurizable member.

In a hospital bed having a frame, a patient support assembly mounted to the frame a pair of left and right guard rails on opposite left and right sides of the patient support assembly and means for mounting the guard rails for movement between relatively inoperative and operative positions in which they are relatively less and more effective to restrain the patient against lateral movement off the side of the patient support assembly adjacent thereto, the improvement being a guard rail actuated safety apparatus, comprising:

• means for sensing when a guard rail is placed into an inoperative position;
• means for raising the guard rail to an operative position;
• and
• means responsive to the sensing means for actuating said raising means.