Pressure Mapping Reduces Occurrence of Bed Sores

An innovative continuous bedside pressure mapping system improves the care of patients vulnerable to hospital-acquired pressure ulcers.

The Wellsense (Nashville, TN, USA) Monitor, Alert, and Protect (MAP) system continuously detects variations in pressure across a patient’s body. The system can be used on any existing bed, enabling caregivers to visualize real-time pressure distribution data or changes over time on a color monitor. The MAP system’s pressure sensing mat is made of an intelligent textile, which constantly measures pressure from thousands of discrete points, using a color scheme to help caregivers to easily identify high (red) to low (blue) pressure points.

The MAP System also serves as an educational tool for caregivers by providing live, visual feedback as they reposition patients, pinpointing subtle changes in position that reduced pressure, often not in agreement with what their clinical experience would suggest. A recent study highlights a trial of the MAP System with 43 patients at a long term acute care (LTAC) facility, where caregiver staff used the system to achieve a 63% decrease in “damaging time” to vulnerable skin tissue, the amount of time after two hours without pressure reduction. The study was published in the February 2013 issue of Wounds.

“If pain is the fifth vital sign, turning and pressure reduction may be the new sixth vital sign for wound patients, and this technology makes it possible to monitor it,” said study author Matthew Pompeo, MD, a thoracic and general surgeon in Dallas (TX, USA) specializing in complex wounds. “Pressure obviously cannot be observed or measured with the naked eye. Continuous pressure mapping has the potential to reduce the physical suffering and financial burden caused by pressure ulcers.”

The US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Rockville, MD, USA) estimates that 2.5 million people in the US alone develop pressure ulcers per year, 60,000 of whom die from complications. There is also more than a half million US hospital admissions per year where pressure ulcers are either the primary or secondary diagnosis.

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Wellsense
US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality