U.S. patent number RE38,533 [Application Number 10/457,958] was granted by the patent office on 2004-06-15 for portable emergency oxygen and automatic external defibrillator (aed) therapy system.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Life Corporation. Invention is credited to John Kirchgeorg, Richard C. Turner.
United States Patent |
RE38,533 |
Kirchgeorg , et al. |
June 15, 2004 |
Portable emergency oxygen and automatic external defibrillator
(AED) therapy system
Abstract
This invention provides a medical diagnosis and therapy system
particularly adapted for the combined uses of emergency cardiac
defibrillation and pulmonary oxygen administration, including
automated patient cardiopulmonary assessment and voice prompted
therapy and resuscitation: electrocardio
diagnosis/monitoring/defibrillation and electropulmonary blood
oximetry/oxygen administration. The system has a case having access
opening(s) and clear cover(s) to view the apparatus and contents,
to dispel all doubt as to know how to open the case and to make it
easy for a user to quickly find and use the various components.
Inventors: |
Kirchgeorg; John (Milwaukee,
WI), Turner; Richard C. (Arlington, VA) |
Assignee: |
Life Corporation (Milwaukee,
WI)
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Family
ID: |
32396579 |
Appl.
No.: |
10/457,958 |
Filed: |
June 10, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
Reissue of: |
151300 |
Sep 11, 1998 |
06327497 |
Dec 4, 2001 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
607/3; 128/897;
206/572 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61M
16/024 (20170801); A61M 16/00 (20130101); A61N
1/3904 (20170801); A61B 5/0205 (20130101); A61B
5/1477 (20130101); A61B 5/024 (20130101); A61B
2560/0431 (20130101); A61M 2230/205 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A61M
16/00 (20060101); A61B 5/0205 (20060101); A61N
1/39 (20060101); A61B 5/024 (20060101); A61B
5/00 (20060101); A61B 019/00 (); A61N 001/00 ();
A61J 001/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;600/301,300,368,323,509,529 ;607/5,2,3,81 ;128/897
;206/571,572,363 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
"First Save: The simple, safe and affordable life saving solution,"
Survival Link Corporation, 1997.* .
"It's a fire extinguisher your people can use to put out a cardiac
arrest," Physio-Control Corporation, 1998.* .
"When survival is measured in minutes," Heartstream, Inc. 1996.*
.
"CPR Prompt--AED/CPR Total Trainer," CPR Prompt, Inc., Jan. 1998.*
.
"paraPac is for CPR," pneuPAC, Inc., 1998..
|
Primary Examiner: Schaetzle; Kennedy
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A hand-held multi-component emergency medical system,
comprising; a breathable oxygen delivery system; a defibrillation
system; and a unitary casing for housing said oxygen delivery
system and said defibrillation system.
2. A hand-held multi-component emergency medical system,
comprising; a breathable oxygen delivery system; a oximetry system;
a defibrillation system; and a unitary casing for housing said
oxygen delivery system, said oximetry system and said
defibrillation system.
3. A system as claimed in claims 1 or 2, further comprising a voice
prompting system for directing a user through a protocol employing
said defibrillation system.
4. A system as claimed in claims 1 or 2, further comprising a voice
prompting system for directing a user through a protocol employing
said defibrillation system and said oxygen delivery system.
5. A system as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a voice
prompting system for directing a user through a protocol employing
said defibrillation system, said oxygen delivery system and said
oximetry system.
6. A system as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a control
processor for controlling operations of at least said
defibrillation system, said voice prompting system and said
oximetry system.
7. A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said control processor
further controls said oxygen delivery system.
8. A system as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a feedback
control from said oximetry system to said oxygen delivery system to
regulate oxygen delivery.
9. A system as claimed in claim 8, further including a display
system coupled to said oximetry system.
10. A system as claimed in claim 8, further including means for
modal control of said oxygen delivery system, for switching or
prompting a user to switch said oxygen delivery system between a
variable flow rate/pressure cyclic ventilator mode and a fixed flow
rate mode..Iadd.
11. A multi-component emergency medical system of a size and weight
which can easily be carried by a single hand comprising: a
breathable oxygen delivery system; a defibrillation system; and a
unitary casing for housing said oxygen delivery system and said
defibrillation system; the cumulative size and weight of the
unitary casing, oxygen delivery system, and defibrillation system
such that the unitary casing, when housing the oxygen delivery
system and defibrillation system, can be easily carried by a single
hand. .Iaddend..Iadd.
12. A multi-component emergency medical system of a size and weight
which can easily be carried by a single hand comprising: a
breathable oxygen delivery system; a oximetry system; a
defibrillation system; and a unitary casing for housing said oxygen
delivery system, said oximetry system, and said defibrillation
system; the cumulative size and weight of the unitary casing,
oxygen delivery system, oximetry system, and defibrillation system
such that the unitary casing, when housing the oxygen delivery
system, oximetry system and defibrillation system, can be easily
carried by a single hand. .Iaddend..Iadd.
13. A system as claimed in claims 11 or 12, further comprising a
voice prompting system for directing a user through a protocol
employing said defibrillation system. .Iaddend..Iadd.
14. A system as claimed in claims 11 or 12, further comprising a
voice prompting system for directing a user through a protocol
employing said defibrillation system and said oxygen delivery
system. .Iaddend..Iadd.
15. A system as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a voice
prompting system for directing a user through a protocol employing
said defibrillation system, said oxygen delivery system and said
oximetry system. .Iaddend..Iadd.
16. A system as claimed in claim 15, further comprising a control
processor for controlling operations of at least said
defibrillation system, said voice prompting system and said
oximetry system. .Iaddend..Iadd.
17. A system as claimed in claim 16, wherein said control processor
further controls said oxygen delivery system. .Iaddend..Iadd.
18. A system as claimed in claim 17, further comprising a feedback
control from said oximetry system to said oxygen delivery system to
regulate oxygen delivery. .Iaddend..Iadd.
19. A system as claimed in claim 18, further including a display
system coupled to said oximetry system. .Iaddend..Iadd.
20. A system as claimed in claim 18, further including means for
modal control of said oxygen delivery system, for switching or
prompting a user to switch said oxygen delivery system between a
variable flow rate/pressure cyclic ventilator mode and a fixed flow
rate mode. .Iaddend.
Description
.Iadd.Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for
the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,497; the reissue applications
are applications Ser. Nos. 10/457,958 (the present application
filed on Jun. 10, 2003), and 10/727,325, 10/727,327, and
10/727,328(which were all filed on Dec. 3, 2003 and are
continuation reissue applications of reissue application Ser. No.
10/457,958). .Iaddend.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an emergency medical diagnosis and
therapy system integrating several emergency medical equipment
components into a single multi-functional unit within a convenient
unitary casing, so that medical personnel can easily handle, access
and implement a variety of important emergency tools and
therapies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional emergency medical equipment has been improved over the
years to advance the ability of emergency medical personnel to
administer vital care to patients. Such advancements include voice
prompting, automated and individualized patient assessments and
self-maintenance of the equipment.
For example, a variety of small, portable on-site devices are
available for administering electric pulse therapy in emergency
situations of myocardial infarcation and to defibrillate and
restart regular heart pump rhythms necessary for sustaining the
life of the patient. Most of these Automatic External Defibrillator
(AED) devices include electro-cardio diagnosis and monitoring of
the patient, and many include voice prompting for the user. There
are also known O.sub.2 and CO.sub.2 oximetry and capnography
devices for measuring arterial oxygenation, perfusion, O.sub.2 Hb
dissociation, tissue O.sub.2 affinity, O.sub.2 content, PO.sub.2,
pulse oximetry saturation (SPO.sub.2), or calculated oxygen
saturation (%SO.sub.2), because oxygen supplementation is critical
in many emergency cardiopulmonary trauma situations. For this
latter purpose, there exist a wide variety of oxygen resuscitators,
inhalators, or ventilators.
Often, first responder medical personnel have arrived on site to
attend the victim with an AED defibrillator, but have been unable
to resuscitate and keep alive the victim without supplemental
oxygen on hand. In many instances the victim was successfully
defibrillated, but poor cell perfusion and toxic gases due to
hypoxia prevented successful recovery. In many other instances, the
first responder arrived when the vital signs of the victim were
declining but could do little until after the victim had begun
fibrillation or expired. In the first instances, supplemental
oxygen administration may have insured successful survival of the
defibrillated victim. In the second instances, supplemental oxygen
administration may have even precluded the need for the
defibrillator. In both instances, emergency oxygen may have saved
the victim by restoring the proper oxygenation and cell perfusion
necessary for survival.
Heretofore, each piece of emergency equipment has typically been
contained in its own housing or carrying case and used
independently, as a stand-alone unit. Handling each piece of
equipment separately, however, is inconvenient and cumbersome for
medical personnel, who are often situated in awkward conditions and
dangerous circumstances, such as at automobile accident sites.
Moreover, the use of separate units ignores the interdependence of
administration among the several emergency systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention improves upon conventional
arrangements by providing a medical care system comprising a
plurality of interdependent emergency medical systems in one
convenient unit.
An object of the invention is to provide a multifunctional
emergency medical care system which places a plurality of
interdependent emergency therapy devices in a single unit, and
which is capable of guiding emergency medical personnel through
emergency procedures which employ these devices simultaneously.
A further object of the invention is to provide an emergency
medical therapy system having various devices which may be needed
in a medical emergency, arranged in a housing unit in a manner
allowing easy and convenient simultaneous access to each piece of
equipment so that the user can utilize the equipment easily,
quickly and efficiently.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set
forth in the description which follows, and in part will be
apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the
invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention
will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed
out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the
appended drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further
understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of
the invention and together with the description serve to explain
the principles of the invention.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a first embodiment of the
system;
FIGS. 2 and 3 are perspective views illustrating variations of the
embodiment of the system, and
FIG. 4 is a system diagram of a fully integrated emergency medical
system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments
of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Referring to FIG. 1, the first embodiment illustrates a housing 1
having two access openings for accessing two compartments 20, 30.
Two clear or opaque covers 10, 12 cover the openings,
respectively.
Handle 40 provides a means for carrying the unit to a victim or
patient. This allows the user to have a free hand for other
equipment, handling a patient or other important tasks. Moreover,
with multiple pieces of equipment housed in the same unit, the user
needs to only look at the face of the unit to view the various
displays for the different systems.
Thus, consolidating multiple medical devices into one unit provides
easier handling and convenience for the user.
A convenient variation is illustrated in FIG. 2. Instead of having
two covers, this embodiment has one cover 14 for covering the
openings of compartments 20, 30. In this embodiment, only a single
cover 14 is removed to access the various compartments of the
housing 1.
This provides an advantage over the first embodiment since the user
only needs to remove a single cover to access all the equipment.
During an emergency, when time is of the essence, this provides an
important advantage for the user of saving time. The rest of this
variation is similar to the first embodiment and thus, the features
are represented by the same reference numerals and a detailed
description is omitted.
FIG. 3 illustrates another variant of the invention. A single cover
16 covers the entire front face of the housing 1. Thus, all the
equipment pieces, including the displays and controls are covered
with a preferably clear cover 16.
This variation provides an advantage over the first and second
described in units in that the displays 80, speaker 50, and other
various controls 60 are protected by the cover 16. Thus, during use
the operator only needs to remove a single cover piece to access
all components in the housing. After use, the single cover protects
all the controls and displays, as well as the other equipment
housed in the compartments from damage during storage or
transport.
As noted above, each compartment 20, 30 holds one or more emergency
medical devices. Several component variations are possible. For
instance, the housing may combine a small-sized emergency oxygen
unit (gas dispensing device) with an oximeter, a pulse display and
electrode lead. As another alternative, either or both of the
emergency oxygen unit and oximetry system may be combined with an
Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), corresponding controls and
paddle electrodes. In either case, the system may include a voice
prompt system, selection controls and a speaker. Many other
combinations are possible, as will be evident to those of skill in
the art.
FIG. 1 shows housing 1 having a gas dispensing device 70 and an
electrocardio defibrillation device 75, the former comprising an
oxygen cylinder with a mechanical or electromechanically controlled
regulator, gauge, mask and hose in one compartment 20.
The oxygen dispensing device may be functional in two modes: manual
mode, in which an on/off switch or lever simply controls on/off
supply of oxygen, generally delivered at a fixed or variable low
flow rate, or automatic mode, where the flow rate is variable and
may be controlled either according to program control or via
feedback from the oximetry unit. Included within the variable flow
rate mode may be a ventilation mode for non-breathing victims,
wherein liter flow and pressure are subjected to time sequencing
according to a cycle corresponding closely to requirements the
victim needs to return to a normal breathing pattern. Compartment
30 stores defibrillator shock paddle electrodes 121 and oximeter
electrode 107. Several other component variations are also
possible.
The defibrillation device and associated controls are contained
entirely within the housing 1, and may be of a form known in the
art, as represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,797,969, 5,792,190,
5,749,902, 5,700,281, 5,716,380, 5,605,150, 5,549,659, 5,529,063,
5,243,975, 5,785,043, 5,782,878, 5,749,913 and 5,662,690, each of
which is incorporated by reference herein. Several of these known
defibrillators include voice prompting; the invention deviates from
the known voice prompting scheme in that it also includes timely
prompts for oximetry measurement and the administration of oxygen.
The protocols for the coordination of oximetry, oxygen
administration and defibrillation are known generally in the
medical arts, and therefore will not be explained in detail
here.
Housing 1 holds power source 90 (battery), and the known controls
110, 103 and displays 116, 118 for the defibrillator and oximeter.
A speaker 50 is also housed in the housing 1, to be used in
conjunction with voice prompting tools and controls 113.
An example of the use of the invention will now be described, in
order to better explain the functionality of the invention.
At an accident scene, for example, it is determined that a victim
is currently in cardiac arrest. Upon enabling the unit of the
invention, controls 113 may be activated to enable the voice prompt
system, which will guide the user through the steps necessary to
operate the oxygen delivery, oximetry and defibrillation systems.
Such voice prompt systems are known in the portable defibrillation
arts, however, according to the invention the prior art system may
be modified to include prompts for effecting oxygen administration
and oximetry measurements.
For example, in this example of a non-breathing victim in cardiac
arrest, the voice prompt system may guide the user through the
following protocols:
initiate and deploy defibrillation system and paddles
administer electroshock treatment
initiate oxygen delivery in ventilator mode
deploy oximetry measuring electrode.
If the defibrillation is successful, as determined by a pulse
reading, the voice prompt system may subsequently guide the user
through switching of the ventilator mode to a regulated constant
volume oxygen delivery mode which is more suitable for a breathing
patient, and/or make other variations in oxygen delivery via
program control or in response to oximetry readings. Naturally,
many variations are possible as will be readily apparent to those
of skill in the art.
In its most simple form, the integrated emergency medical systems
of the invention may be substantially without interdependent
control. For example, an emergency oxygen device can be combined
with a defibrillation system, without any electromechanical
connection therebetween. In such a case, if voice prompting is
added, the system may prompt only for defibrillation, or both
defibrillation and oxygen delivery, for example.
A more integrated and sophisticated system is illustrated in FIG.
4. In this system, a control processor controls operation of the
various emergency medical units (oxygen delivery, defibrillation
and oximetry), accepts feedback from each of these units,
interfaces with and controls the voice prompt system, and drives
the various displays 116, 118. When the operator selects AED or
oximetry functions by operating inputs 103110, the processor
controls defibrillator control 111 to generate an output waveform
of a selected type in accordance with operator selection, and
controls oximetry control section 102 in accordance with operator
selection to perform various measurements and drives display 116 to
display these measurements, e.g., pulse rate and blood O.sub.2
related measurements, to the operator in real time. Similarly,
processor 101 drives LCD screen 118 to display user instructions
and prompts, respiratory monitoring and diagnosis, and cardio
diagnosis and monitoring data.
Processor 101 also interfaces with voice prompt system 112 to cause
the latter to deliver a selected sequence of voice prompts via
speaker 114 according to predetermined protocols, operator input
and the condition of the patient as measured by the system,
including sensors 107, in a manner generally similar to that known
in the art.
As noted previously, the oxygen delivery system 105 can be
controlled either manually or by automatic control. In a manual
mode, for example, the system 105 may deliver oxygen at a fixed
liter flow and pressure, or at a plurality of flow rates. In
automatic mode, the system 105 may, in response to a control signal
from processor 101 (or user input), deliver a time sequenced flow
rate and pressure to operate as a ventilator. In response to user
input, a control signal from processor 101 or feedback from
oximetry control 102, the system 105 can be switched from
ventilator mode to fixed flow rate mode, the latter being more
suitable for patients capable of breathing on their own. Other
fixed or variable flow rates may be elected via control signals
from processor 101 or feedback from oximetry control 102.
With the present invention, a single therapy unit can combine
emergency cardiac defibrillation and pulmonary oxygen
administration in one convenient casing. An electrocardio
diagnosis/monitoring/defibrillation device can be combined with
electropulmonary blood oximetry/oxygen administration, including
automated patient cardiopulmonary oxygen assessment and voice
prompted therapy and resuscitation.
Although described herein as an interactive combination of oxygen
delivery, oximetry and defibrillation systems, it will be apparent
that the invention could be comprised of a combination of any two
of these systems, with associated modification of the control
mechanisms and voice prompts, as will be evident to those of skill
in the art.
* * * * *