System for assisting rescuers in performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a patient

Inventors

Freeman, Gary A. • Pan, Jing • Elghazzawi, Ziad F.

Assignees

Zoll Medical Corp

Abstract

A system for assisting a rescuer in performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a patient includes: a proximity sensor configured to be positioned at a location corresponding to a location of a rescuer's hand when delivering compressions to a patient's chest, the proximity sensor configured to produce a signal indicative of the rescuer's hands being released from the patient's chest; a medical device operatively coupled with the proximity sensor and configured to provide resuscitative treatment to the patient; and a controller communicatively coupled with the medical device and the proximity sensor. The controller is configured to: determine, based upon the signal from the proximity sensor, if the rescuer's hands have been released from the patient's chest, and trigger an action by the medical device in response to a determination that the rescuer's hands have been released from the patient's chest.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) assistance using at least one capacitive sensor configured to be positioned on a torso of a patient so that the sensor is located at a region corresponding to chest compression delivery. The capacitive sensor is configured to produce signals indicative of displacement of the region corresponding to chest compression delivery. One or more processors receive the signals and provide chest compression feedback based on the signals indicative of displacement.

The invention further supports rescuer hand-related determination using the capacitive sensor signals to indicate whether a rescuer's hands are fully releasing from the region corresponding to chest compression delivery between chest compressions. The invention includes feedback presentation in which a release indication is provided on a display screen, where an amount of fill varies accordingly with whether fully releasing occurs. Additional refinements include generating audio and/or visual feedback and providing a display indicator of whether chest compressions are being performed properly.

In expanded system embodiments described in the partial content, the sensed capacitive displacement information is integrated with other sensing and device actions, including analyzing patient electrocardiogram (ECG) signals during chest compression delivery to determine desirability of delivering a shock, and integrating sensed hand/contact state with defibrillator/ECG-based charging and advisory actions. The described system can also use motion sensor signals representing sternum motion during chest compressions to determine compression rate and compression depth, thereby supporting CPR quality feedback based on the combined sensing.

Claims Coverage

The partial content identifies two independent claims, one system claim and one method claim, each centered on capacitive sensing of displacement at a chest compression delivery region to generate chest compression feedback. Across the dependent claims indicated in the partial content, inventive features refine the feedback modality, add determination of full release, add motion-sensor-based determinations of compression rate and depth, and include ECG-based determination of shock desirability.

Across the identified independent claims, the core inventive coverage is capacitive sensing positioned at a chest compression delivery region to produce displacement signals and derive chest compression feedback. Dependent claim refinements add specific feedback presentation, determination of fully releasing based on capacitive signals with a variable release indication, motion-sensor-based determinations of compression rate and depth, and ECG analysis-based determination of shock desirability during chest compression delivery.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications