WO2012066580A2

WO2012066580A2 - Hospital bed

Info

Publication number: WO2012066580A2
Application number: PCT/IN2011/000804
Authority: WO
Inventors: P Sivanarul Selvan; Senthil Kumar K M; Saravanan D; Naveen Kumar T
Original assignee: SUNDARAM MEDICAL DEVICES (P) Ltd
Current assignee: SUNDARAM MEDICAL DEVICES (P) Ltd
Priority date: 2010-11-19
Filing date: 2011-11-18
Publication date: 2012-05-24
Anticipated expiration: 2013-05-19
Also published as: WO2012066580A3

Abstract

The present invention relates to the improvement of a bed utilized in hospitals, medical centres and nursing homes considering the patient and caretaker comfort without involving any complex mechanism. The bed of the current invention utilizes a unique scissor jack mechanism aided by a mechanical spring assist to adjust the height of the bed surface. The energy is stored in the spring during compression and can be retrieved during the raising of the bed with minimal effort. The mechanism used in the bed of the current invention has no pipes or rods under the surface of the bed as like the conventional beds and therefore allow patients to store their belongings. The improved facility of the bed includes but not limited to extendable side rails to ensure patient safety, extending bed surface to accommodate persons of any height, patient weight tracking system without disturbing the patients over the bed, foot board with records storage facility, over bed table for reading / keeping accessories of patients or physicians and a power strip

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION:

The present invention relates to improvement applications that can be applied to any bed utilized in hospitals, medical centres and nursing homes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

Today, the number of patients admitted to hospitals with different complications is increasing daily. These patients need a comfortable bed that allows various positions required for treatment methods and procedures.

Beds utilized in hospitals and other health care facilities are typically designed with complicated actuation mechanisms to enable movement of the various surfaces. These adjustments are necessary and common for both the patient being treated and for the physician administering the treatment, in order to achieve a comfortable and medically safe height and/or slope of the bed surface.

In today's beds, the effort given to raise or lower the bed surfaces is manual and (Vertical/Head rest pivoting) obviously high and it becomes virtually impossible for the typical healthcare provider (in general, nurses) to raise or lower the bed surfaces with heavier patients. Usually, the actuation mechanism used in these types of beds just outside the bed surface, occupying additional space and presenting a potential hazard to the patient/care giver. An alternative is electronic beds which are differently designed including power for actuation (usually electric motors) under the bed and they eliminate most/all manual actuation mechanisms to save cost and reduce energy. However, If the motor fails, e.g. at the time of a medical problem, the electric / electronic bed is unusable until fixed and it can result in serious injury to the patient. Also, the surface under the bed today is still crowded with motors, wiring, and power storage.

In both beds the lack of space under the bed surface prevents the storage of diagnostic devices, patient belonging, and other accessories. A design that provides both the ability to use standard parts to lower cost and provides for a manual backup would be a major advance. Additionally, in conventional system, the bed surface used is constrained to a fixed length. These types of bed surface accommodate only person of average height. Especially, hospitals face competing challenges where the patients are of different heights and the taller patients feel difficult to accommodate themselves within that bed surface. Some hospitals do have larger beds to admit taller patients, which are little longer than the height of an average person but these kinds of bed are of fixed length and take up more highly valuable hospital floor space. There are some hospital beds which have sections at the edge with lever actuated, so that whenever the extension is needed the lever is actuated and the edge sections are raised to form an extendable bed surface. These beds have plurality of supporting components which in turn provides more friction and so reduces the efficiency and also need too much of manual effort to extend the bed surface. They are not cost effective and space effective. A bed with sleeping surface adjustment and involvement of less mechanism to accommodate patients of different heights at any time will be useful to overcome the conventional drawbacks. Hospital beds with trendelenburg and reverse trendelenburg position are available when sudden and unexpected changes of blood pressure or air emboli occur in the patients. Currently the change of position available in the hospitals beds are within ±15 degrees only. Hospital beds require side rails with standard size of either 4 or 1 1 inches, they aim to prevent the patient from falling out of the bed and are designed for patients lying on a standard mattress. Some of the mattresses used to avoid pressure sores are significantly taller than the standard mattresses and the current safety rails, even when raised, are barely taller than the mattress and provide almost no protection to the patient from falling out of the bed. A safety rail that can accommodate both types of mattresses is important for patient safety and peace-of-mind. There is significant need for beds which can provide for weighing unconscious or un-ambulatory patient without any disturbance to the patient. The patient's weight is a good indicator of their health, reveals if they are getting adequate nutrition, and determines the dosage of medication. While it should be relatively simple to weigh a patient lying on a bed, the multiple support points and the uneven weight distribution, makes expensive and highly sophisticated electronic correction necessary in today's beds in order to achieve even basic accuracy. An inexpensive solution for this problem would be a significant improvement.

Medical patient record storage is a significant issue and these records need to be secure and confidential but also readily and easily accessible to properly authorized caregivers. Hospital beds with provision of such record storage facility will help in accessing the records easily by the physician.

In conventional system, the over bed table is necessary in hospitals and nursing homes to store personal items such as laptops and reading material, and medical personnel may set wash basins, assorted medicines and bandaging materials used in treatment. The over bed table is also used to serve food for the patient. The conventional over bed table has a floor mounted base which occupies floor space even when the table is not in use. Additionally, when the table is moved away from the patient, it has to be searched for when needed. Therefore, it creates the need for an improved system that could reduce the floor space and with adjusting means.

Today's treatment includes electrically powered medical devices which get plugged in individually, creating a tangle of wires and requiring a number of plug points in the wall.

In the existing system, there are no beds which could give comfort to the patients admitted with different kinds of complications. It is difficult to design beds based on patients' requirements at the time of admission, moreover the number of beds need to be required for each type of complications vary from time to time. Therefore, there is a need for a hospital bed which can accommodate and provide comfort to any type of patients at any time without increasing the space and complexity.

The present invention overcomes all the above said drawbacks and provides a hospital bed with less complex mechanism involved.

9^'5 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a bed particularly used in hospitals to ensure safety, less space, minimal operating efforts and simple mechanism.

100 The hospital bed used in this invention has a scissor jack (also known as screw jack) mechanism aided by a mechanical spring assist to adjust the height of the bed surface. The bed surface can be lowered to 300 mm to ensure patient safety and peace-of-mind during which the energy is stored in the mechanical spring by means of compression of spring. This compressed energy is utilized during the raising of the bed surface up to 800 mm with minimal effort.

105

The scissor jack used in this invention has a pair of springs placed on the screw rod. As the bed (with the patient ) is moved downwards by means of rotating the lever of the scissor jack in counter clockwise direction, the nuts move away from each other compressing the spring on to the cap of the screw rod. At the minimum position of the bed, the spring is compressed to its

110 limit. During the upward motion of the bed with patient, the lever of the actuator is turned clockwise; as a result, the stored energy during compression is used up in moving the nut towards each other assisting the scissor jack actuation, causing the attached links to pivot up, thus lifting the bed. This result in significant reduction of the effort required for manual operation and also allows the usage of smaller motors in the electronic version.

115 All advanced features in the present invention of bed are operated by mechanical linkage. The mechanical linkages includes but not limited to mechanical actuation provided on the head rest and knee break, scissor jack mechanism used for the adjustment of the bed surface. A mechanical linkage with a series of rigid links with joints and actuation is called as a mechanism. The mechanism used in the current invention is less complex and there are no pipes or rods that

120 run along the entire length of the bed surface and obstruct the space under it. This allows freely accessible surfaces below the entire "top". In this space, we place the patient belonging storage, medical device storage, and OBT stowing space.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a safety/side rail mounted to the frame of 125 the bed which can be raised when the patient is at rest or lowered when the patient needs to get down from the bed with reduced risk of entrapment. The side rail swings out and an extension that doubles the height of the side rail by swinging out once more. This allows the side rail to be extended to achieve a greater height, thus ensuring the safety of the patient even on an elevated mattress. The rail also self-locks when extended thereby ensuring the safety of the patient. When 130 the safety rail is lowered, it is "doubled" up and reinforced which gives even more stability when used as a holder for the restraints.

Another objective of the present invention is to accommodate taller people in the bed by easily extending the length of the bed surface without discomforting, dismantling or adding any 135 components to the bed.

The objective of the present invention is achieved by changing the size of the bed surface through extending the leg edge of the bed. The improved bed surface of the invention has a larger diameter pipe, a smaller diameter bent pipe at the leg end which slides into the larger 140 diameter pipe like a telescopic arrangement. The extended surface is held in place by means of self-locking clamp pins. The bed surface includes a head rest surface, a seat surface and the knee break surface. The knee break surface or leg end of the bed surface has a length extension capability.

145 In another feature of the current invention, the integrated trendelenburg mechanism is controlled by means of a threaded pivot block which moves up and down. This vertical motion is controlled by the gear box consisting of worm shaft and worm wheel. By rotating the handle connected to the worm shaft in the gear box trendelenburg and reverse trendelenburg motions are achieved.

150 In another embodiment, the bed of the present invention supports to calculate the weight of the patient without disturbing their position using a single point of support mechanism. The single load cell will be zeroed (or 'tare to zero') before the patient gets into the bed and the patient's weight can be calculated.

155 The hospital bed of the current invention further consists of a removable foot board and a head board. The foot board dramatically improves the functionality of board and contains a lockable, secure records storage and storage for hand cleanser dispensers. Whereas, the headboard includes a handle or hand grip which can be used to push the bed and/or control the speed of bed head lowering in a cardiac emergency.

160

Another objective of the invention is to provide an over bed table with height adjustment means and can be placed under the bed when not in use. This over bed table can be attached to the bed of the present invention and can be used for various applications such as eating, reading, laptop use, etc. The table can also be tilted or rotated about 90 degrees for the patient's convenience.

165 The height of the table is adjustable using a knob, which locks the table at the desired height. The table extends over the bed surface and can be moved along the length of the bed. The caregiver can also use the table as a support aid for writing prescriptions or charting. For bed ridden patient, the OBT can be used to store the water / fluids and it can be slid to the leg side when the patient does not need the OBT but the caregiver might. In another embodiment of the present invention,

170 for ambulatory patient the over bed table can be detached from the bed and placed on the universal base which has the provision to hold it. According to another advantages of the present invention, the bed includes a power strip at its base to turn devices on and off. The power strip has built in surge protectors and filter. This 175 power strip allows for medical monitoring devices to be placed at the bedside without the risk of tripping over the wires and allows the bed to be moved by just unplugging one wire from the wall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

180

Fig. 1 is a perspective view and depicts assembly drawing of bed with advanced features

Fig. 2 and 3 are the perspective views of the scissor jack and bed surface at the minimum and maximum height

Fig. 3A and 3B show the graphical representation illustrating the relationship between force on 185 lever and bed height when it is being raised and lowered.

Fig. 4A depicts the isometric view of side rail with extension

Fig. 4B is a front view of the side rail in extended position

Fig. 5A depicts the mechanism of side rail connected to bed surface using latch sets

Fig. 5B depicts the mechanism of side rail in locked position

190 Fig. 6 shows the foot board with record storage facility

Fig. 7 illustrates the integrated trendelenburg mechanism of the present invention

Fig. 8 is the detail view of integrated trendelenburg mechanism

Fig. 9 is the bottom view of bed showing free space for storage and the space for patient belongings and medical devices / instrumentation

195 Fig. 10 depicts the power strip with clamps used in the bed of the present invention

Fig. 1 1 illustrates the perspective view of the improved bed surface of the present invention Fig. 12A and 12B illustrate the structure of bent pipe and self-locking clamp pin

Fig. 12C illustrates the magnified view of the self-locking clamp pin in the extended position Fig. 13 illustrates the bed surface in its extended position

200 Fig. 14 illustrates the cross section view of the self-locking clamp pin assembly

Fig. 15 illustrates the perspective view of the over bed table attached to a the bed

Fig. 16A, 16B, 16C, 16D & 16E illustrate the foldable over bed table in different orientations Fig. 17 illustrates the over bed table attached to the universal base

205 DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is a hospital bed with improved comprehensive bed design to assure patient's safety and minimal effort by caretaker.

The improved bed has a set of two pipes onto which the central mechanism mounted depends on 210 the type of bed fixed or with adjustable height (manual/electric). The central mechanism connects the "base" (base portion consisting of the base pipes, self-locking casters, storage, and power) to the "top" (top portion consisting of the sleep surface, safety rails, head & foot boards, and accessories).

215 All advanced features applied to the bed of present invention are operated by mechanical linkages. The mechanical linkage consisted of series of rigid links connected with joints to form a closed chain, or a series of closed chains. Each link and the joints have various degrees of freedom to allow motion between the links. Mechanical linkages are carefully designed to take an input and produce a different or required output, by applying mechanical advantage.

-220

Assembly of vertical actuation and assist:

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1 to 3 thereof, a new and improved 225 hospital bed with advanced features is depicted.

The bed of this present invention has head rest 4, seat (stationary surface) 5, upper leg and lower leg sections 6 & 7 in its sleep surface which is connected to the top main pipe. Mechanical actuation is provided on the head rest 4 and knee break (consisting the meeting point of the upper 230 and lower leg sections) to pivot upwards to assume an inclined position from the horizontal. The central mechanism of the adjustable height bed which allows the adjustment of the height of the "top" is actuated by a screw jack (also known as scissor jack mechanism). The links of the central mechanism are connected to the two base pipes and the top links are attached to the top main pipe for the vertical actuation.

235

The main member of the scissor jack is the screw rod 2 and the two nuts 8 assembled to it. The screw rod 2 is rotated in the clock wise or counter clock wise direction by a lever. The nut 8 has link 1 , attached to it.

240 The screw rod 2, nut 8 and the link 1 form the scissor jack. The scissor jack is connected to two base pipes through bottom links by means of pins. It is also connected to the top pipe through top set of links by a pin. The screw rod 2 also has caps on either end of it. The scissor jack has set of springs 3 assembled 245 one on either side of the screw rod 2 along the length of it.

One end of the horizontal springs 3 is connected to the cap of the screw rod 2. The other end is not connected but comes in contact with the nut 8 when the nut 8 travels towards the cap. Another pair of vertical springs 9 is provided vertically, connecting the pin locations where the 250 pipes are connected to the scissor jack.

The principle of operation of the assists:

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, scissor jack is utilized to lower the height of the sleep surface bed to 255 300 mm in order to ensure patient safety and peace-of-mind and to raise the bed up to 800 mm.

Downward motion: The bed surface with or without the patient is moved downwards by rotating the lever, connected to the screw rod 2 end, in counter clockwise direction. The screw rod 2 rotates and the nuts 8 assembled on the screw rod 2 move away from each other and 260 towards the cap at the end.

During this movement, the nut 8 compresses the spring 3 to the cap. This compression goes on till the nut travels to the position where the minimum height of the bed is reached. At the minimum position of the bed, maximum compression of the spring is achieved.

265

This along with a pair of vertical spring 9 between the two pin locations also is compressed to the maximum when the bed surface reaches its minimum height.

Upward motion: The bed surface with or without the patient is moved upwards by rotating the 270 lever, connected to the end of the screw rod 2, in clockwise direction. The screw rod 2 rotates and the nuts 8 assembled on the screw rod 2 move towards each other and towards the centre of the scissor jack.

This movement of the nut 8 is assisted by release of stored energy of the compressed spring 3. In 275 addition to the horizontal assist, the compressed vertical spring 9 also moves the two pins apart in vertical direction. The cumulative effort of these set of springs reduces the effort required in raising the bed surface by lesser application of load on the actuating lever, connected to the screw rod 2

280 The advantage of this feature is that it reduces the force requirements of actuation to raise heavier patients (above 160 Kg) is minimal and equals 5 kg. This ensures that the medical care givers of smaller build also can operate with not much of effort. This mechanism is adopted in any bed for the vertical actuation. The total height of the bed can be lowered to 300 mm and can be raised to 800 mm. The effort used should be at or below 5 Kg.

285 Fig. 3A and 3B is a graphical representation illustrating the relationship between force on lever and bed height when it is being raised and lowered. The graphical representation shows graphs with various curves representing bed with fully assisted, vertically assisted and no assist conditions. By analysing the graphs it exemplifies, the force required to raise the load or bed is 290 reduced drastically in the fully assisted bed.

Vertical assists are provided to reduce the non-linearity of force required: as previously mentioned, the force required to raise the load is highest when the mechanism is at the bottom and decreases as the mechanism is raised. The vertical energy storing assists reduce the effort 295 required at the bottom and ensure the force required to actuate the mechanism as fairly constant

The main advantage of this feature is that, there is a significant free space under the bed surface which allows integrating any other mechanism like weighing or a platform strategy.

300 Extendable Side Rail;

Side rails or "safety rails" are used to physically prevent any possibility of patients rolling off their mattress and falling on to the ground.

In addition, patients who are of limited consciousness, are often restless and need to be restrained 305 from attempting to remove I.V.s and other medical devices attached to them. These restraints need to be fastened to a bed surface and the safety rail is the most frequently used one.

Usually a simple Side rail is mounted to the frame of the bed which can be raised when the patient is at rest or lowered when the patient needs to get down from the bed. The side rails are

310 positioned at the surface of the bed. It should ensure safety of the patient, when the bed is in motion or when it is kept idle. Traditional side rails have a simple mechanism where the rails can be raised or lowered when required. However these rails, when being raised and lowered, subject the patient and the caregiver to serious entrapment risk- they create "pinch points" where fingers, hands, and heads can become trapped. Additionally, their maximum height is such that

315 when taller mattresses (which are used to prevent pressure sores) are used, the rails project only a few centimeters above the top of the mattress, resulting in no reduction in patient fall risk.

The Self-Locking Side Rail system according to the present invention is illustrated in the Fig. 4A, 4B, 5 A, and 5B. The assembly has a main member, side rail 10, side rail extension 1 1 , self-lock 320 pin 12, and side rail holder 13.

As shown in Fig. 4A and 4B, the improved design of Self-Locking Side Rail has extendable rail 1 1. The extendable rail 1 1 is allowed to slide with the main member 10 wherein the whole assembly is integrated to the side rail holder 13 which is allowed to rotate for the ease of the 325 patient to get down from the bed. The sliding motion of the extension is prevented by the self- locking mechanism as the spring with the self-lock pin 12 always keeps the side rail extension 1 1 in contact with the main member 1 1. The side rail 10 is fixed to the bed surface by means of side rail holder 13. 330 Figure 5 A and 5B illustrates the working mechanism of side rail fixed to the hospital bed. There is a "Latch Set" used for the swinging purpose. The latch is of special type with the top portion consisting of a tubular attachment. There are two holding pins used for the securing of the latch to the right configuration. The Bottom Latch is welded to the Support Block.

335 The "Locking Pin" consists of a high tensile rod which is bent to form an inverted U. This locking pin is inserted in the tube part of the top latch side, and a lock screw is used to secure the pin in the tube part.

The other side of the U pin is attached with the Side Rail part, as it can pass through a hole of the 340 bottom pipe / bottom support. Immediately, the U pin and the Side rail are joined together firmly to make it an integral part.

The Side rail and the U pin are formed as single part. (For the metal parts, they can be welded or bolted together. If the side rail is made of "Wood", bolting, nailing, or other methods are 345 employed to secure the U Pin to be fastened with the Side rail.) There is an accommodating hole made on the bottom latch part & the support block, to suit the U pin end.

To lock the side rail, the user gently pushes the side rail down to mate the pin and the location Hole. Since, there are two units of the mechanism attached to each side rail, the Side Rail is

350 secured fully at this configuration, making it in the "LOCKED POSITION"

To unlock the side rail, the user pulls the side rail upward to make the pin slide out from the location hole. Now the side rail is in "UNLOCKED POSITION". In this position, the user can swing the side rail outside away from the bed and leave it hanging down from the hinge in the "HANGING POSITION". The pin contacts with the bottom latch and prevents the side rail from

355 going inside the space under the bed.

The advantage of the present invention is that, the mechanism ensures the self- locking of the side rail at the extended position and it doubles the height of the side rail by swinging out once more. This allows the side rail to be extended to achieve a greater height. The present invention reduces 360 difficulty and provides safety to the patient and the nurse who is moving the side rail.

Head Board and Foot Board:

Removable type Foot board system according to the present invention is illustrated in the Fig. 6. The assembly has a main member, storage bin fixed to the foot board 14 with the holder. This 365 assembly improves the functionality of the board 14 and contains a lockable, secure records storage 15 and storage for hand cleanser dispensers 16.

The headboard includes a handle or hand grip (not shown in fig) which can be used to push the bed and/or control the speed of bed head lowering in a cardiac emergency.

370 The advantage of the present invention is that, the boards are removable type, the footboard can store records & sanitizer to reduce caregiver walking & following of infection protocols, and it is easy to install.

375 Integrated Trendelenburg Mechanism:

The Integrated trendelenburg mechanism according to the present invention is illustrated in the Fig. 7 and 8. The assembly has a gear box 20 integrated with the vertical actuation assembly. Inside the gear box 20, a worm shaft rotates a worm wheel based on the actuation direction. The worm wheel, which has internal thread, is assembled with a Pivot block 19 whose shaft section 380 has external thread. This rotation of the worm wheel is converted into a linear motion which is upwards. This vertical motion pivots up or down of main pipe.

As shown in Fig. 7, the integrated trendelenburg mechanism 17 can be used to tilt the bed surface wherein the whole bed surface assembly is integrated to the trendelenburg pin 21 which 385 is allowed to rotate, for the ease of the physician for the treatment. The integrated trendelenburg mechanism is controlled at the center of the bed.

The advantage of the present invention is that, the mechanism ensures ease of operation for the physician and can easily monitor or study and can lower the head part of the body or the leg part 390 of the patient as per the requirement of the treatment.

Reverse trendelenburg is also possible with the same control. Care is taken to ensure the angle, once set, locks and does not change until the caregiver actuates the mechanism.

395 Improved Bed Surface

An improved bed surface with length extension capability is used to accommodate persons of taller height without any major alterations in the arrangement.

Fig. 14 illustrates the perspective view of the bed surface. The bed surface of the present 400 invention has a head rest surface 27a, seat surface 27b & 27c, knee break surfaces 27d & 27e.

The knee break surfaces 27d & 27e or leg end of the bed surface are provided with length extension capability. The knee break surface 27d has a larger diameter pipe 26 engaged with a smaller diameter bent pipe 17 (shown in fig. 2A) which is slid or inserted into the larger diameter

405 pipe 26 at the end. Two self-locking clamp pins 28 & 29 are employed between the larger and smaller diameter bent pipes to achieve the length extension of the bed surface and to hold the bed in place. The bent pipe 27e in the leg end can be slid outwards for accommodating the taller person or patient and moved inwards for restoring the original position or for average height person. The clamp pins 28 & 29 (shown in Fig. 12B and 12C) are used to hold or lock the length

410 of the bed surface into the desired position. Fig. 13 shows the leg end portion of the improved bed surface in extended position. The new type of clamp pins 28 & 29 are engaged to hold or secure the two pipes 26 & 27e tightly together to prevent movement or separation of the pipes. The self locking clamp has a

415 head portion 30a and a lever portion or clamp portion 30b (shown in fig. 12B). The head portion 30a of the clamp is engaged between the large diameter pipe and smaller diameter pipe. The lever portion 30b is placed or secured inside the smaller diameter pipe (as shown in the fig. 14). While extending the bed or restoring the bed length, the smaller diameter bent pipe is pulled outwards or inwards by means of pressing downward the head portion 30a of the clamp 28 & 29

420 and the lever portion 30b of the clamp 28 & 29 present inside the smaller diameter bent pipe.

Over Bed Table

The Over Bed Table shown in fig. 15 has a tiltable table surface 31 that can be used for holding 425 food tray, laptop, and magazines, and has depression for holding beverage cups, water bottles etc.

The OBT can be attached to a bed or to the universal base 32 (as shown in fig. 17). As shown in the fig. 15 the OBT is mounted on a rail 31 through rotational arm 33 and stabiliser link 34. The rail 31 is attached to the bed surface. On the rail 31 , OBT travels through the length of the bed with the help of a sliding bracket 32.

430

According to fig 15, the rotational arm 33 can be rotated thus allows the OBT an initial fold that allows it to fit underneath the bed (as shown in fig 16D & 16E), below the base pipe of the bed. The stabilizer lock 34 pivots with respect to the rotational arm 33 of the OBT to have a final fold, which is used for gripping the pole of the universal base 42 or have cylindrical holding of 435 components. According to the further aspect of the invention, orientation plate 39 is attached to the orientation support arm 40 to allow for rotation.

The locking pin 36 locks the height adjustment sleeve 38 which moves on the height adjustment rail 35 to allow the height adjustment of the table. The table can even reach over the extendable 440 side rail of height 1 1 inches. The Table surface 41 is allowed to rotate and be tilted to set angles by means of the orientation plate 39 and orientation support arm 40 up to a maximum of 90 degrees.

The over bed table and /or food table is attached to a universal base 42 (as shown in fig. 17). The 445 IV pole can also be mounted to the universal mobile base 42. The OBT and the IV pole can be attached simultaneously. The over bed table has a slot through which the IV pole can be inserted.

The adjustable knob in the mobile base is used to clamp / release the pole and over bed table.

This facility allows the patient to use either over bed table or IV pole or both. The over bed table and /or IV pole have height extension provision for adjusting it to a required height and it slides 450 along the length of the bed. This can be useful when the patient wish to take their meals sitting down somewhere other than the bed or if they wish to walk with the pole.

Cup holder and Napkin holders are provided as attachments to the over bed table. The over bed table gives comfort for the patient to read, write, eat and also use their personal items on it. In 455 addition, it also supports the caretakers or medical staffs to keep their procedures, medical devices and medication on the over bed table even when the IV fluid is administered into the patient simultaneously.

460 Power Strip:

The provision of a single source of power to the various medical devices would eliminate the trip hazard of multiple wires to the wall and also allow the placement of devices under the bed.

Removable type power strip according to the present invention is illustrated in Fig 10 and it is 465 provided at the base of the bed. The assembly of the power strip has the main member power strip 22 with provisions for five power points. The main supply input is given by an insulated cable through the main pipe.

The power strip 22 is assembled to the holder 25. The clamp 23 is integrated to holder 25, and 470 the power strip 22 can be tightened in place by means of screw 24. The power strip 22 has a built in surge protectors and filter.

The advantage of the use of power strip at the base of the bed is to allow medical monitoring devices to be placed at the bedside without the risk of tripping over the wires and it also allows 475 the bed to be moved by just unplugging one wire from the wall.

Easy weight Measurements:

The additional advantage of the invention is the exact weight calculation of the patient even when they are in unconscious or un-ambulatory conditions. The bed of the current invention has 480 a single point of support for the exact weight calculation of the patient at any point of time. The single load cell will be zeroed (or 'tare to zero') before the patient gets into the bed and the patient's weight can be tracked continuously. The weighing system of the present invention eliminates the complex calibrations involved in conventional system

485 Storage Facility:

The present invention includes less complex mechanism for actuating all the said improved features of bed and thereby, it provides space under the bed surface and this space (shown in fig. 9) can be utilised for storage of accessories of patients, records, medical devices, etc.,

490 While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods

495 within the scope and spirit of the invention as claimed

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An improved hospital bed for increasing patient comfort comprising: a central 500 mechanism connecting the base and top of the bed; wherein said base consisting of two base pipes, self-locking casters, storage, and power; wherein said top consisting of sleep surface, safety rails, head & foot boards, and accessories; wherein the said central mechanism allows the adjustment of the height of the bed actuated by scissor jack mechanism;

505

2. The bed according to claim 1 , wherein said sleep surface has head rest, stationary surface, upper leg and lower leg sections and the said sleep surface is connected to the top main pipe

510 3. The scissor jack mechanism of claim 1 , includes a screw rod and two nuts; wherein said screw rod has two horizontal springs one on cap of the screw rod and other in contact with nut; wherein said scissor jack has another springs connecting vertically with pin locations; and wherein said scissor jack is connected to the base pipes and top pipe using pins

515

4. The improved bed according to claim 1 , wherein said scissor jack is utilized to lower the height of the sleep surface bed to 300 mm using a lever and stores the energy in the said compression springs; wherein the said stored energy utilized for raising the bed up to 800 mm by rotating a lever with minimal effort

520

5. The foot board according to claim 1 , includes a main member and storage bin with a holder; wherein the said foot board contains a lockable secure records storage and storage for hand cleanser dispensers

525 6. The improved bed of claim 1 , wherein said headboard includes a handle for controlling the speed of bed head lowering during cardiac emergency

7. The head board and foot board of claim 1, are easy to install and of removable type

530 8. The improved bed according to claim 1. includes an integrated trendelenburg mechanism to tilt the bed surface; wherein the said bed surface assembly is integrated to the trendelenburg pin

9. The trendelenburg mechanism according to claim 8, can be used to rotate, lower the head 535 part of the body or the leg part of the patient as per the requirement of the treatment and ensures ease of operation

10. An improved bed utilized in hospitals comprising a central mechanism connecting the base and top of the bed, a self-locking side rail system for ensuring safety to the patients and power strip at the base of the bed; wherein said side rail assembly has a main member, side rail, side rail extension, self-lock pin and side rail holder

1 1. The improved bed according to claim 10, said side rail includes a self-locking mechanism for preventing the sliding movement of the extension; wherein a spring with the self-lock pin always keeps the side rail extension in contact with the main member

12. The self-locking side rail according to claim 10, can be extended to achieve a greater height wherein said side rail has automatic self-locking at the extended position

13. The side rail according to claim 10, connects with the bed through two latch sets which comprise of a latch top, holding pins, a support block, latch bottom with location hole, support block for holding latch bottom and a U pin

14. The side rail according to claim 13, for locking the side rail with the bed, wherein the said U-pin is pressed against the location hole and for unlocking the side rail, the said pin is released from the location hole

15. The power strip assembly according to claim 10, has the main member power strip with provisions for five power points; wherein said power strip is of removable and can be placed under the bed

16. The power strip of claim 15, is fixed to a holder with an integrated clamp and said power strip has a built in surge protectors and filter

17. A bed with improved arrangement for accommodating taller people comprising: a larger diameter pipe, a smaller diameter bent pipe and two self-locking clamp pins; wherein said smaller diameter pipe slides through the said larger diameter pipe and can be connected by means of said self-locking clamp pins to hold the pipes firmly.

18. The self-locking clamp pin according to claim 17, comprises: a head portion and a lever portion; wherein the said head portion is held in place to hold the larger and smaller diameter pipes; wherein the said lever portion resides inside the said smaller diameter pipe

19. The bed according to claim 17, can be adjusted based on patient height; wherein the said smaller diameter bent pipe can be slid inwards and outwards from the said larger diameter pipe by pressing down the said head portion of the said self-locking clamp pin

20. An improved over bed table attached to the hospital bed surface comprises: a rail for mounting the over bed table; a rotational arm and a stabiliser link for connecting the said rail to the over bed table; a sliding bracket for positioning the over bed table anywhere along the length of the said rail; a height adjustment rail located at the said stabiliser lock and a height adjustment sleeve connected to an orientation plate placed over an orientation support arm; wherein the said orientation support arm carries the over bed table surface; wherein the said height adjustment rail and the said height adjustment 585 sleeve connected through a height adjustment knob operation with a locking pin for adjusting the height of the over bed table.

21. The over bed table according to claim 20, extends along the length of the bed and can be configured at different locations

590

22. The over bed table according to claim 20, height can be adjusted and the table surface can be tilted up to a maximum of 90 degrees.

23. The over bed table according to claim 20, can be folded and kept under the bed when not in use using the said rotational arm

24. The over bed table according to claim 20, can be used for holding food tray, laptop, and magazines and has depression for holding beverage cups, water bottles; wherein the said table can also be used for eating, keeping medicaments and portable medical devices

600

25. The over bed table according to claim 20, can be removed from the said bed and attached to a universal base; wherein the said universal base can accommodate a IV pole simultaneously

26. The improved bed according to claim 1 , 10, 17 & 20, can be used in hospital, medical centres or nursing homes; wherein the said bed provides storage facility for keeping patients belongings and placement of medical devices during treatment under the bed

27. The improved bed according to claim 1 , 10, 17 & 20, has provision for exact weight 610 calculation of the patient at any point of time; wherein the said bed utilizes a less complex mechanism and easy to operate by patient and care taker

615