Surgery – Diagnostic testing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-08
2002-03-05
Shaver, Kevin (Department: 3736)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
C600S301000, C708S104000, C439S928000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06352504
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a device for monitoring patients, which is used to detect and process physiological data of a patient, wherein the physiological data are detected by sensors.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Such patient monitoring devices have a terminal associated with a patient, to which one or more sensors for detecting physiological parameters of the patient are to be connected. The terminal receives the electric signals of the sensors and processes same further, e.g., by digitization, calibration and scaling. The sensor data having been subjected to further processing are forwarded from the terminal in steady state to a connected medical workplace, which usually has a display device (e.g., a computer screen) for displaying the patient's vital functions, and additional data entry and data processing devices in order to provide a display of the patient's health status. Furthermore, optical and/or acoustic alarm devices, which alert the hospital personnel concerning critical changes in the patient's status, are usually provided.
Besides the stationary operating state described, in which the terminal is arranged at or near the patient's bed and is connected to the medical workplace via an electronic network, a nonstationary operating state occurs during the transportation of the patient, in which the terminal is not connected to the medical workplace via the electronic network. To ensure the monitoring of the patient during transportation as well, a small, lightweight and mobile display must be provided, which can be connected to the terminal as a transport display module.
The type of the physiological parameters that must be detected in a given patient changes from one patient to the next depending on the diagnosis and the instantaneous health status. From this arises the requirement that different types of sensors must be able to be connected in order to make it possible to detect the desired parameters of the patient monitored in the particular case. It may also be necessary for this, in principle, to provide additional signal reception components for additional special sensors, which are not provided in the terminal.
The handling of such patient monitoring devices, especially the connection of additional or other sensors, or the connection to a transport display module at the time of a change from the stationary operating state to the nonstationary one, must be simple, on the one hand, and highly reliable and dependable, on the other hand, so that such changes in the patient monitoring device can be performed by the hospital personnel with the often necessary rapidity and at the same time in a highly reliable manner.
A patient monitoring device that permits a stationary operating state and a nonstationary operating state has been known from, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,385. The prior-art device has a terminal, which is pushed into the housing of a stationary medical workplace in the stationary operating state. In the nonstationary case, i.e., for the transportation of the patient, the terminal is pulled out of the medical workplace and is pushed into the housing of a transport display module, which is open on one side, and is connected to the transport display module via a cable connection. However, this solution is disadvantageous because the insertion of the terminal into the transport display module as a plug-in module fundamentally limits the possibility of expansion of the terminal and the connection of additional components to the terminal is not possible in a simple and compact manner.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a patient monitoring device in which the terminal can be connected to a transport display module in a simple and reliable manner and which has a compact design and offers possibilities for connecting additional sensors.
According to the present invention, the patient monitoring device has a terminal, which is designed such that its housing is provided on one side with a connection mechanism for the positive-locking coupling of a transport display module and on another side with a connection mechanism for the positive-locking coupling of an expansion module for receiving signals of additional sensors. Furthermore, electric contacts are provided on the terminal on each connection mechanism, the contacts being designed such that they automatically come in connection with complementary contacts on the transport display module or on the expansion module at the time of coupling of the connection mechanism to establish the electric connection to the terminal.
The transport display module can thus be arranged on the terminal in one step by coupling with the connection mechanism, and the necessary electric connection is established simultaneously with the mechanical coupling. Furthermore, the terminal makes possible the coupling of an expansion module on another side of its housing via a corresponding connection mechanism, the expansion module being used to receive and preliminarily process sensor signals of additional special sensors. The patient monitoring device can thus be coordinated with the configuration needed in the acute situation with special sensors by connecting the suitable expansion modules.
In an advantageous embodiment, the housing of the terminal is designed as a flat component with opposite large-area side faces, at which the connection mechanisms for connecting the transport display module and an expansion module are arranged. The ease of handling and the accessibility are improved by the connection mechanisms being arranged on opposite side faces, so that the connection of the transport display module is not interfered with or hindered by the connection of additional expansion modules.
In another advantageous embodiment, an additional connection mechanism corresponding to that on the terminal may be provided on a first expansion module on a side of this expansion module facing away from the terminal in the coupled position, so that an additional expansion module can be coupled with the first expansion module in exactly the same manner as it is coupled directly with the terminal.
In another preferred embodiment, each connection mechanism is designed with a guide pair comprising a guide support and a complementary guide body such that with the terminal standing upright, the guide pair can be brought into engagement by depositing the transport display module and the expansion module (hereinafter occasionally called together by the generic term “auxiliary device”) downward in the vertical direction. It is achieved as a result that the auxiliary device can be brought into engagement with the terminal by depositing it from the top next to the terminal, which permits simple handling of the devices by the personnel. In another preferred embodiment, the guide pair is designed such that after the insertion of the guide body, a pivotable connection is first established between the auxiliary device and the terminal, the pivot axis being defined by the longitudinal axis of the guide pair, which is horizontal and parallel to the housing faces in the lower area of the auxiliary device. It is achieved as a result that after depositing the auxiliary device on the terminal, while the auxiliary device is initially still being held slightly obliquely in relation to the terminal, the auxiliary device is fully pivoted at the top to the terminal after the engagement of the guide pair and may be locked there.
This may be achieved, e.g., by the guide pair having a groove and a tongue, which engage one another at the time of insertion, wherein the groove is designed as a one-sided undercut in the housing face and the tongue engages the groove from the top during insertion. In this advantageous embodiment, the groove and tongue of the connection mechanism allow for a pivotability around a pivot axis at right angles to the vertical direction of deposition and in parallel to the face of the housing of the terminal. After the insertion of the auxiliary
Ise Edgar
Landowski Christoph
Rechlin Markus
Spapens Rob
Astorino Michael C
Dräger Medizintechnik GmbH
McGlew and Tuttle P.C
Shaver Kevin
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