Implementation of a Pressure Redistribution Mattress: Improved Patient Outcomes and Cost Savings

Topic: The rental of air mattress/overlay rental to provide quality pressure redistribution can be costly. Our facility planned to reduce the dependence on rentals by purchasing a mattress that would provide positive patient outcomes along with significant cost savings. Purpose: The mattress/bed rentals for the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers had reached an annual rental agreement of $120,000 for our 300+ acute care bed facility. Through the gradual purchase of new mattresses our goal was to improve patient comfort, patient and staff satisfaction, reduce time to place at risk patients on a treatment surface, and reduce the number and severity of healthcare acquired pressure ulcers. Additionally, we hoped to achieve significant cost savings to justify the new mattresses purchase. Objectives: Providing a high quality pressure redistribution surface upon hospital admission should result in a significant decrease in rental cost and healthcare acquired pressure ulcers. Transition the Med-Surg and ICU beds to the reactive pressure redistribution surface to be completed by the end of 2009. (Note: the ICU upgraded their old Total Care frames with this surface). Staff to continue evaluation of the patient's comfort level and examine the patient's skin routinely for any redness or breakdown over pressure points. Outcomes: By the end of 2009 the conversion was completed. Since the new mattress had the capability of converting to an alternating air relief system by attaching a control pump to the mattress it became the standard mattress for prevention as well as converting to a therapeutic surface for stage III and IV pressure ulcers. This mattress has met our goals by • Stabilizing healthcare acquired pressure ulcers to ≤ 2 percent • No stage IV healthcare acquired pressure ulcers have been reported since the installation of the new mattresses. • Decreased rental costs by two-thirds with pay back period of one and a half years (still renting kenetic therapy surfaces) The positive results of the conversion launched our investigation into our stretcher surfaces throughout our system. We are subsequently changing to the stretcher pad which offered construction similar to our med surg surfaces that provided advanced pressure redistribution therapy.