There are a number of existing methods and apparatuses which are capable of providing for real-time monitoring of a patient's vital statistics (“vitals”). These apparatuses include electrocardiogram recorders, heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitors, electroencephalograph apparatus, pulse monitors, oximeters, carbon dioxide meters, thermostats, scales, maternal uterine activity monitors, and various other non-invasive medical instruments.
A major concern with current noninvasive medical instruments is that they are often bulky and require an excessive number of cables in order to report the measurements to a computer or physician. Everyone is familiar with the image of a hospital patient excessively wired to many machines surrounding or attached to the patient's bed. Access to such patients is difficult during normal treatment, but becomes a real problem in emergency situations where rapid evacuation may be required. In emergencies, non-ambulatory or bed-ridden patients must be quickly and safely evacuated from hospitals, a situation in which patients wait (often for hours in a parking lot) for transportation to another hospital. In such emergencies, because of the issues mentioned above, most current medical instrumentation cannot be quickly and effectively packed up to preserve substantially uninterrupted patient monitoring. Similarly, in the case of home health care, it would be highly desirable to simplify and/or create more user-friendly monitoring methods by reducing the amount of equipment and creating a self-contained, maintenance-free monitoring device.
Numerous improvements in the medical field have been made to reduce the number of monitors physically attached to a patient, and the size and number of devices in a hospital room, by integrating certain sensor devices into the existing bedding of a patient. The following patents and patent publications, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety herein, disclose a number of contactless, non-invasive patient monitoring methods.
A mattress pad disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20070149883 to Yesha has at least two pressure-sensitive piezoelectric sensors positioned in a rigid pad beneath the patient's mattress. The mattress pad includes a processor to receive successive sensor measurements and calculate heart and respiration rates, which are determined by subtracting the pressure signals corresponding to the upper body and the lower body of a patient and mathematically determining the maximum difference of signals between each group of sensors. The heart and respiration rates are then transmitted by a cable to existing patient monitoring equipment. This system, however, requires that a rigid pad be properly disposed and positioned beneath the mattress while physically connected to an auxiliary device, restricting both the mobility and versatility of the monitoring system.
A mattress with integrated piezoelectric sensors disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,652,581 to Gentry has a passive sensor, or sensor array, in the mattress pad that supports continuous monitoring of a patient's physiological condition in a hospital setting. The external processor receives sensor data, either by wired or wireless communication, from mattress pad sensors, and processes the sensed data into a form that is usable by a physician, nurse or other user. As in Yesha, this is not a self-contained monitoring mattress and still requires auxiliary equipment to receive and process sensor data.
Yet another monitoring mattress pad apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,164,941 to Misczynski. This document discloses a contactless electromagnetic inductance device which collects cardiac activity signals to evaluate patient sleep. As in Yesha, the system is not self-contained and also does not permit storage of patient data.
There are numerous other patents and published patent applications which employ a pad or embedded mattress sensor coupled to an auxiliary device. One apparent disadvantage is the lack of a self-contained system and the reliance on or requirement of an auxiliary device. Another disadvantage is the lack of embedded storage for patient identification and other data, such as a patient's chart information.
Thus, what is needed is a self-contained Smart Mattress which is capable of monitoring vital statistics of a patient in real time, analyzing data using an embedded processor, storing patient identification and medical information, producing an electronic medical report, and communicating pertinent data to a caregiver or computer server using wireless technology, such as Bluetooth® Technology. Due to the self-contained, portable nature of the Smart Mattress and Smart Mattress technology, it is also ideal for use with an emergency evacuation mattress system for hospital patients and other bed-ridden patients.