What this Trial Is About

Proning is a way of helping people who are very sick and have trouble breathing. It involves lying patients on their front to get more oxygen into their body. This process happens in a part of the hospital called the Intensive Care Unit, and can last up to 16 hours per day. When in this position, doctors need to turn the patients' head and move their arms every 2-4 hours. Doctors call this repositioning. It helps prevent sores as well as other injuries. To do this, the health care team slide the patient up the bed, so that their (supported) head hangs over the end of the mattress. The head is then turned before the patient is slid back down the bed; their arms are then moved into a different position. This is currently performed by a team of 5+ staff and takes lots of time and resources. The process is also potentially dangerous because it requires a lot of movement which can hurt patients or staff. To make repositioning easier and safer, a group of doctors and engineers have created a new device. It is like a cushion that goes under the patient and inflates. This allows staff to reposition patients without needing to slide the patient on the bed. This also reduces the number of staff needed and lowers the risk to patients and staff. Feedback from staff, patients and the public are being used to help improve the system. To see if the new device works well in other hospitals, the investigators are planning to do a study with 30 patients in up to 4 different hospitals. This will last 14 months, and they will collect information on how well it performs. They will ask patients if they want to take part and will collect feedback after they leave hospital. During the study, staff from each hospital will monitor the device to make sure it is safe and record how useful it is. Any problems will be recorded, and staff will be asked for their opinions on how it affects their work. As well as monitoring safety, they will record the time saving achieved. This is important as it allows repositioning more often, which may reduce pressure sores. It also allows staff to spend more time focusing on other patients and important tasks. To share the results with other doctors, the researchers will write reports and give presentations. If successful, they will start making and selling the device to help sick patients on Intensive Care.

A Trial of Staff Time With Proned Patients in the ICU Using the 'BathMat'