Tourniquet hazard suppressor

摘要

A tourniquet hazard suppressor suppresses an action initiated by a user of a surgical tourniquet system having a touchscreen user interface if implementation of that action by the system may be hazardous to a surgical patient.

主权项

1. A surgical tourniquet system having a hazard suppressor, comprising:
a touchscreen user interface including a graphical display adapted for displaying information visually to a user, wherein the graphical display is further adapted to show a touchscreen key corresponding to a desired action of a tourniquet controller, and wherein the touchscreen user interface detects actuation of the touchscreen key by the user and produces a user input signal upon actuation; a tourniquet controller communicating with the touchscreen user interface through a hazard suppressor and further communicating with a cuff pressure regulator, wherein the cuff pressure regulator is connected pneumatically to a tourniquet cuff applied to a surgical patient; a cuff pressure transducer for sensing a level of pressure in the tourniquet cuff and for producing a cuff pressure signal indicative of the level of pressure sensed; and the hazard suppressor adapted for detecting a malfunction of the touchscreen user interface and responsive to the cuff pressure signal, wherein the hazard suppressor suppresses communication of the user input signal to the tourniquet controller if the malfunction is detected at a time when the level of pressure indicated by the cuff pressure signal differs substantially from a reference level.