Calibrated Systems, Devices and Methods for Preventing, Detecting, and Treating Pressure-Induced Ischemia, Pressure Ulcers, Pneumonia and Other Conditions

Abstract

A system for monitoring medical conditions including pressure ulcers, pressure-induced ischemia and related medical conditions comprises at least one sensor adapted to detect one or more patient characteristic including at least position, orientation, temperature, acceleration, moisture, resistance, stress, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood oxygenation, a host for processing the data received from the sensors together with historical patient data to develop an assessment of patient condition and suggested course of treatment, including either suspending or adjusting turn schedule based on various types of patient movement. Compliance with Head-of-Bed protocols can also be performed based on actual patient position instead of being inferred from bed elevation angle. The sensor can include bi-axial or tri-axial accelerometers, as well as resistive, inductive, capacitive, magnetic and other sensing devices, depending on whether the sensor is located on the patient or the support surface, and for what purpose.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for automatically confirming compliance with a Head-of-Patient protocol comprising
 sensing, with a sensor configured to be physically wearable by a patient, information representative of the angle of elevation of the patient's torso with respect to a support surface,   detecting, in a processor in response to the sensing step, the movement of the patient into an angle of elevation of that patient's torso that the patient should not be in,   generating in the processor a warning in response to a movement of the patient into such an angle of elevation, and   communicating the warning to a caregiver.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the timing of the generating step varies depending upon how much the detected angle of elevation varies from an acceptable angle of elevation. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the variation of the timing of the generating step is based on patient specific data. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the variation of the timing of the generating step is based on predetermined values. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of maintaining a turn schedule in a processor and associated storage, detecting, via the sensor, changes in patient orientation, and automatically adjusting, in the processor, at least one of the turn schedule and the Head-of-Patient protocol to provide a suggested turn schedule that substantially complies with the turn schedule and the Head-of-Patient protocol. 
     
     
         6 . A method for automatically detecting angle of elevation of the torso of a patient with respect to a horizontal portion of a support surface comprising
 providing a sensor configured to be physically wearable by a patient on the anterior of their torso,   sensing, with the sensor, information representative of the angle of elevation of the patient's torso with respect to the horizontal portion of a support surface, and   generating, in a processor in response to the sensed information, a signal representative of the angle of elevation of the patient's torso with respect to the horizontal portion of the support surface.