SURGICAL/CRITICAL CARE sponsored by Keeping pressure off the patient
Photo courtesy AliMed
R
epositioning a patient sometimes requires a shift of mere inches. But making sure a patient is reposi-
tioned frequently and precisely enough to prevent pressure injuries demands time, consistency, and a lot of physical strength on the part of nurses and other healthcare workers.
A patient may weigh several hundred pounds, yet be very fragile medically. And repositioning a patient, even one of average size, poses risks of injury to both patient and nurse.
Fortunately, there are options available. A wide spectrum of devices and small-to- medium tools can help adjust a patient’s weight to prevent pressure ulcers, or keep the body stationary while the patient is under anesthesia. Innovation in these medical products has continued to fl our- ish through the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020 the global patient positioning market was valued at $1 billion, and is expected to see modest growth over the next decade, according to a market research report by
Fact.MR. Given an increase in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients due to COVID-19-related hospitalizations, a national upward- trending Body Mass Index (BMI), pent-up demand for postponed surgeries, and many other moving parts to our healthcare picture and economy, the need for such innovation is clear.
“While many hospital-acquired condi-
tions (HACs) have decreased, pressure injuries remain a stubborn exception,” says Michelle Daniels, Encompass Group
Airisana theraputic support surface from Encompass 26 January 2022 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
hpnonline.com
Vice President of Product Strategy, Development and Administration. An Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality (AHRQ) study from 2019, states that the rate of pressure injuries in 2017 was 23 for every 1,000 patient discharges. The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, reported in October 2020, a collaborative project to address hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI) has resulted in more than a 60% reduction in a common but preventable issue that claims over 60,000 U.S. lives each year.3
The report
also mentioned that AHRQ information estimated 2.5 million patients suffer from hospital-acquired infections each year.
Customized by technology The prevention of pressure injuries has evolved in recent years and technology has led the way. Encompass recently announced the issuance of a patent for its Airisana Therapeutic Support Surface. Airisana, Daniels says “does fi ve thera- pies, all in one surface.”
The device was developed by a wound management advisory team made up of cli- nicians, Wound, Ostomy, and Continence (WOC) nurses, physical therapists, respira- tory therapists and chief fi nancial offi cers (CFOs). The group set out three years ago to develop a device based on what patients and healthcare workers actually need, Daniels says, “not what the market was telling them they need.”
Airisana, according to promotional literature, uses, “pressure redistribution, alternating pressure, low air loss, immer- sion/envelopment and lateral rotation,” in order to adjust the placement of pressure against the patient’s body. It does this by way of an algorithm that randomizes pat- terns of pressure applied by the device. A repeating pressure therapy pattern will stop working after a while, Daniels explains. Clinicians have found that a patient’s body, over time, will begin to adapt (involuntarily) to the pattern. Eventually, it fails to respond to the therapy.
The introduction of a random sequence, she says, is effective and unique. “We really started this at the bed- side,” she says. “We didn’t want to just create something
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