The Positioning Bed Pad Developed by Nurses for Nurses
Introduction
Repositioning patients between hospital beds can be an uncomfortable experience for both nurses and patients. For patients with chronic illnesses, repositioning can become a daily struggle making issues like bedsores prominent. What’s more, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found when surveying 10,000 health care workers that there were 75 lifting-related injuries. AFC believe that these kinds of injuries can be avoided entirely which is why they have worked to develop a patient aid positioning bed pad with patients’ comfort and dignity in mind to ensure the best bed positioning experience for everyone.
Like no other caregiver tools on the market right now, AFC’s Positioning Bed Pad is both Taiwan’ patent and FDA approved and has been developed with the help of Taiwan’s leading Medical Institutions. The thorough research and innovative technology, which went into the design of this bed pad, make it a revolutionary product in the field of health care. It even won the Gold Medal at the International Innovation and Intervention Competition. Caregiver tools and equipment need to be constantly adapted and reinvented to suit health care today, putting the safety of caregivers and the dignity of patients first, which is exactly what AFC aims to do with this bed pad.
Trial based research
With the help of continual patient trials conducted at the General Hospital of the Three Military Services, the Positioning Bed Pad with reinforced handles was designed with patients in mind and developed through continual research into real life application and patient lift techniques. One of the main points of research was how to prevent patient injury at every phase of the moving process. Even in situations when medical practitioners need to act quickly to move a patient, the Positioning Bed Pad ensures that the patient is always physically and emotionally protected.
Another factor that had to be taken into consideration during the design process, was the safety and comfort of the medical practitioners themselves. Often lifting patients can cause harm to health care workers which in turn affects their ability to care for those patients. When designing bed pads for lifting and manoeuvring all kinds of patients, it was important to think about how they could be used as caregiver tools to disperse weight correctly. Through careful study of human ergonomics, this product was designed to reduce stress on caretakers muscles during everyday lifting and repositioning of patients in various settings.
Design features
The three layer material works to provide both support and increased hygiene. Starting with the bottom layer, the material is water repellent and low friction to decrease discomfort. The middle layer is made of heavy duty material and reinforced for both the safety of the patient and prevention of damage to the product itself, making it as resilient as possible. Finally, the top layer is also skin-friendly, highly absorbent and breathable as well as being antibacterial for the safety and hygiene of the patient and medical practitioners. All fabric used has passed biocompatibility tests and is FDA listed ensuring high quality.
Each layer of high quality material works together to ensure the safety of the patient at all stages of patient lift. The positioning bed pad with handles supports the patient and distributes weight evenly to, again, prevent strain or injury. With the reinforced central layer and safety buckle combined, the Positioning Bed Pad can take on up to 200kg in weight.
The positioning of these six hand grips even means that just one health care worker can move a patient independently. Not only does this save time and resources but it can often help the patient to feel more dignified during the moving and repositioning process. Although it is often advisable to have more support when moving heavy weights, this positioning bed pad with handles is made to put as little strain as possible on care workers who often have to move patients by themselves.
Real life application
Although the major application of the Positioning Bed Pad is as an everyday part of hospital care, for example as bed pads for incontinence in elderly care, there are a number of other applications which make it highly versatile. Namely, in home care this bed pad can be used to move equipment as well as patients around their own homes. Paramedics and relief workers can also use the patient aid positioning bed pad in crisis situations to move injured people quickly and efficiently out of harm’s way, something that a conventional stretcher is not always capable of doing. This latest research and innovation shows the time and work that is put into providing reliable products which continue to reduce pressure on caregivers as well as improving the quality of life of bedridden and chronically ill patients.
