Patent Application Titled “Devices And Systems For Preventing The Development Of Pressure Ulcers” Published Online (USPTO 20240041348): Patent Application

2024 FEB 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventors MacEwan, Matthew (St. Louis, MO, US); Rogers, John (Evanston, IL, US); Sacks, Justin (St. Louis, MO, US), filed on December 14, 2021, was made available online on February 8, 2024.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Pressure injuries are a pervasive and debilitating reality for over 2.5 million hospitalized and critically ill patients annually. Deemed a “never event” by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), new pressure injuries in post-operative patients are estimated around 12-66%, while 10-41% of critically ill patients may suffer pressure sores. Individuals who develop pressure injuries are more likely to suffer mortality, with 60,000 deaths attributed directly to these wounds annually.

“Compounding the morbidity and mortality suffered by patients who develop these wounds, their prevention has become even more vital in hospital settings as the reimbursement landscape, influenced by CMS, for hospital-acquired injuries changes. In 2008, CMS revised its Inpatient Prospective Payment System to reduce reimbursements for hospital stays associated with several hospital-acquired conditions including pressure injuries, thus placing the economic burden of prevention and treatment on hospitals and providers. These CMS policies have burdened hospital nursing staff to initiate best practice guidelines that prevent pressure ulcers.

“While nursing providers, physicians, hospital administrators, and insurance providers are grappling with ways to prevent these injuries, the armamentarium for their prevention is decidedly limited. To date, the primary intervention available in the fight against pressure injury formation is manual repositioning of patients on a two-hour scheduled interval, a nationwide protocol that is not supported by clinical evidence. While this standardized approach integrates well into the daily nursing workflow, it does not account for differences in patient body habitus, illness, ability to shift position, and ability of a patient to sense painful pressures secondary to ischemia.

“Various systems have been developed to monitor pressure experienced by the body of a patient. At least some such systems are prohibitively expensive and require replacement of patients’ beds with special pressure sensing beds. Some other known systems only monitor pressure exceeding a threshold pressure, or monitor with limited sensors and/or accuracy.

“Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “One aspect of this disclosure is a continuous bedside pressure monitoring (CBPM) device including an array of pressure sensors, a controller including a processor and a memory, the controller operatively coupled to the array of pressure sensors, a communication interface operatively coupled to the controller, and a flexible housing enclosing the array of pressure sensors, the controller, and the communication interface.

“Various refinements exist of the features noted in relation to the above-mentioned aspect. Further features may also be incorporated in the above-mentioned aspect as well. These refinements and additional features may exist individually or in any combination. For instance, various features discussed below in relation to any of the illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into the above-described aspect, alone or in any combination.

“There are shown in the drawings arrangements that are presently discussed, it being understood, however, that the present embodiments are not limited to the precise arrangements and are instrumentalities shown. While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which shows and describes illustrative aspects of the disclosure. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modifications in various aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A continuous bedside pressure monitoring (CBPM) device comprising: an array of pressure sensors; a controller including a processor and a memory, the controller operatively coupled to the array of pressure sensors; a communication interface operatively coupled to the controller; and a flexible housing enclosing the array of pressure sensors, the controller, and the communication interface.

“2. The CBPM device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the controller to: detect a pressure applied to each pressure sensor of the array of pressure sensors; and transmit the detected pressure applied to each pressure sensor to a monitoring device using the communication interface.

“3. The CBPM device of claim 2, wherein the instructions stored in the memory further configure the processor to continuously detect the pressure applied to each pressure sensor and to continuously transmit the detected pressure applied to each pressure sensor to the monitoring device.

“4. The CBPM device of claim 2, wherein the instructions stored in the memory further configure the processor to: continuously detect the pressure applied to each pressure sensor; store the detected pressures applied to each pressure sensor in the memory; and periodically transmit the stored detected pressures applied to each pressure sensor to the monitoring device.

“5. The CBPM device of claim 1, further comprising a power source coupled to the controller to provide power for the controller, the power source located within the flexible housing.

“6. The CBPM device of claim 5, wherein the power source comprises a rechargeable battery.

“7. The CBPM device of claim 6, further comprising a charging interface coupled to the rechargeable battery to provide power to recharge the rechargeable battery.

“8. The CBPM device of claim 7, wherein the charging interface comprises a planar coil for wireless charging.

“9. The CBPM device of claim 1, wherein each pressure sensor of the array of pressure sensors comprises a force sensitive resistor.

“10. The CBPM device claim 1, wherein the communication interface comprises a wireless communication interface.

“11. The CBPM device of claim 10 wherein the wireless communication interface comprises a Bluetooth transceiver.

“12. The CBPM device of claim 1, further comprising a temperature sensor within the flexible housing and operatively coupled to the controller and to the power source.

“13. The CBPM device of claim 1, further comprising a flexible printed circuit board (fPCB), wherein the pressure sensor array, the controller, and the communication interface are electrically mounted on the fPCB.

“14. The CBPM device of claim 1, wherein the flexible housing comprises a flexible waterproof casing.

“15. The CBPM device of claim 14, wherein the flexible waterproof casing comprises silicone.

“16. A continuous bedside pressure monitoring (CBPM) system, the system comprising: a CBPM device including: an array of pressure sensors; a controller including a processor and a memory, the controller operatively coupled to the array of pressure sensors; a communication interface operatively coupled to the controller; and a flexible housing enclosing the array of pressure sensors, the controller, and the communication interface; and a monitoring device operatively coupled to the CBPM device.

“17. The CBPM system of claim 16, wherein the CBPM device and the monitoring device are operatively coupled by a wireless connection.

“18. The CBPM system of claim 17, wherein the monitoring device is one of a personal computer, a server system, a tablet, a cellular telephone, a cloud-based storage system, an electronic medical record (EMR) system, and any combination thereof.

“19. The CBPM system of claim 16, wherein the monitoring device is configured to store signals indicative of pressures detected by the array of pressure sensors and to transform at least one of the pressures detected by the array of pressure sensors into a parameter indicative of a potential pressure injury to tissue adjacent the CBPM.

“20. The CBPM system of claim 19, wherein the parameter indicative of the potential pressure injury comprises at least one of a tissue pressure exceeding a pressure injury threshold and a cumulative pressure dosage exceeding a dosage threshold.”

For more information, see this patent application: MacEwan, Matthew; Rogers, John; Sacks, Justin. Devices And Systems For Preventing The Development Of Pressure Ulcers. U.S. Patent Application Number 20240041348, filed December 14, 2021 and posted February 8, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20240041348)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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