Sensing device for controlling the delivery of care to immobile patients

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the reduction of pressure ulcers and falls with respect to patients with physical or cognitive impairments who are in bed. A control system assures that the bed and ancillary apparatus are physically set and that patient behaviors are responded to by care providers. Motion is monitored with a non-mutually exclusive portfolio of sensors, and this information is used by one or more reasoning engines. An integrated clinical workflow is informed by the patterns of movement and then the physical environment, patient interaction, and care provider workflow are controlled to reduce the incidence of falls and pressure ulcers in bed ridden patients.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A patient management system, comprising:
 memory to store instructions; and   a computer processor to execute the instructions to implement at least:
 a classifying component to assign patients into cohorts and to assess placement of the patients in the respective cohorts; 
 a data integration component to receive and process one or more of protocol compliance data, patient characteristic data, or wound characteristic data from one or more sensor systems configured to monitor the patients and to generate an assessment of patient performance within the respective cohort; and 
 a communication component to provide feedback to the patients based on the generated assessments. 
   
     
     
         22 . The patient management system of  claim 21 , wherein the classifying component periodically changes patient assignment to the cohorts to adjust a clinical rate of change of one or more of the patients. 
     
     
         23 . The patient management system of  claim 21 , wherein the classifying component assigns the patients into the cohorts based on a state estimator generated based on one or more of a physical descriptor, a medical state, a rate of change of medical state, or a mental acuity, and wherein the classifying component compares the state estimator with other patient states and creates the cohorts according to the classifications among a patient population. 
     
     
         24 . The patient management system of  claim 21 , wherein the classifying component is to at least one of continuously or periodically assess placement of the patients in the respective cohorts. 
     
     
         25 . The patient management system of  claim 21 , wherein the one or more sensor systems include a motion sensor system to movement of patients in the respective cohorts. 
     
     
         26 . The patient management system of  claim 21 , wherein the classifying component is to assign patients to respective cohorts based at least in part on a treatment regime. 
     
     
         27 . The patient management system of  claim 21 , wherein the classifying component is to adjust patient assignment to the cohorts based on patient compliance with a treatment protocol. 
     
     
         28 . The patient management system of  claim 21 , wherein each of the respective cohorts is associated with a respective patient care plan adapted to a characteristic shared by the patients in the respective cohort. 
     
     
         29 . The patient management system of  claim 21 , wherein a first patient in a first cohort is identified as an outlier by the classifying component based on at least one attribute, and wherein the classifying component is to reassign the first patient to a second cohort based at least in part on the at least one attribute and patient care protocols associated with the first and second cohorts. 
     
     
         30 . The patient management system of  claim 29 , wherein the first patient is identified as an outlier based on a decline in a clinical indicator, and wherein the data integration component and the classifying component are to monitor the clinical indicator over time to measure improvement in the clinical indicator with reassignment of the first patient to the second cohort. 
     
     
         31 . An apparatus comprising:
 memory; and   at least one computer processor to at least:
 assign patients into cohorts based on a characteristic; 
 process one or more of protocol compliance data, patient characteristic data, or wound characteristic data from one or more sensor systems configured to monitor the patients; 
 generate an assessment of patient performance within the cohorts based on the processed data from the one or more sensor system; 
 adjust patient assignment within the cohorts based on the assessment of patient performance; and 
 provide feedback to the patients based on the adjustment of patient assignment. 
   
     
     
         32 . An apparatus comprising:
 at least one sensor; and   at least one computer processor to at least:
 detect a skin surface of a patient limb and an orientation of the patient limb with respect to a reference location using sensor data from the at least one sensor to determine a spatial relationship of the limb with respect to the reference location, the reference location identified with respect to a plurality of control volume zones; 
 evaluate the plurality of control volume zones over a time period to determine movement of a joint in the patient limb across multiple control volume zones; 
 compare the determined movement of the joint to a protocol specifying a pattern of movement; and 
 triggering, when the determined movement of the joint does not match/satisfy the pattern of movement of the protocol, an adjustment of the patient. 
   
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 32 , wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of an optical sensor or a Doppler sensor. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 32 , wherein the at least one computer processor is to apply a spatio-temporal image filter to the limb to detect localized extremes of a filtering response pattern to determine the movement of the joint. 
     
     
         35 . The apparatus of  claim 32 , wherein the at least one computer processor is to use pattern recognition of the sensor data with respect to the plurality of control volume zones to determine the movement of the joint. 
     
     
         36 . The apparatus of  claim 32 , wherein the at least one computer processor is to generate an alarm to trigger the adjustment of the patient. 
     
     
         37 . The apparatus of  claim 32 , wherein the at least one computer processor is to determine motion queues based on sensor data for the joint over a unit area per unit of time with respect to the plurality of control zones to determine the movement of the joint. 
     
     
         38 . The apparatus of  claim 32 , wherein the at least one computer processor is to determine a relative velocity of the movement of the joint as a function of time and momentum. 
     
     
         39 . The apparatus of  claim 38 , wherein the at least one computer processor is to train a response model of the protocol using the relative velocity and the movement of the joint. 
     
     
         40 . The apparatus of  claim 32 , wherein the at least one computer processor is to augment the determination of the movement of the joint using load cell data.