New High-Tech Mattress Not Necessarily Best For Pressure Sores

One of the main reasons for the development of pressure sores is the patient’s lack of ability to be able to transfer pressure from one part of their body to another without help. This means lengthy times are spent taking the weight of the body on one particular side before a health care professional is available to move the patient to a different position. This is the time when a pressure sore is most likely to develop. Of course this should never happen if all care facilities had sufficient staff to meet the needs of their patients or residents. As a result of the unacceptable presence of pressure sores amongst vulnerable people there is often research conducted to help alleviate the problem rather than prevent it.

Expensive high-tech alternating-pressure mattresses not as good as expected

One such innovation is the development and marketing of high-tech mattresses. These it seems have been in use recently in preference to foam mattresses, but despite their high price are of little benefit to recipients. They attract a price tag of about five times that of a foam mattress and evidence has found only 1 in 50 recipients actually benefit.

The high tech mattress, at a cost of £1,000 each, contains several air pockets which can inflate and deflate so that they adapt to pressure points which emerge on the recipient’s skin. The cheaper specialised foam mattress which costs just £200 and is constructed of viscoelastic foam and superior quality polyurethane which is designed to act as a cradle for the patient so there is a reduction of pressure on exposed skin.

As there had not been any definite findings of the use of the more expensive option, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), conducted a study of 2,000 patients and revealed that it is of benefit to only 1 in 50 patients. Even though the evidence showed that a specialist foam mattress had a higher rate of pressure sore occurrence at 8.9 %, the high tech mattress was not much less at 6.9%. The length of time it took to develop a pressure sore was found to be 18 days on average.

Patients face limitations with a high-tech mattress

The high tech air mattress has other limitations too especially for patients who despite limited mobility can at times manage to get out of bed. They find it much harder when they are using a high tech pressure mattress rather than the specialist foam variety. Also they find the change in pressure makes them feel more insecure than the more stable foam mattress.

Nurses find it hard to make a reliable choice between mattresses

Despite the fact there are guidelines for selecting the correct mattress for a patient, nurses have been allocating a high-tech mattress to both those with an existing pressure sore and those who are at high risk of developing such a sore. The guidelines state that the more expensive mattresses should go to those who already have a developed pressure sore.

If you believe that your relative’s pressure sore has developed due to poor decisions made by a nurse or health care professional you may have the grounds to file a personal injury claim for negligence. You will need to talk to a solicitor and provide sufficient evidence which proves who or what caused the injury.