As we wind down 2019, I wondered about what to write about for this week’s final Immersus blog of the year, I reflected on our business, and on the medical support surface industry generally, looking back over the last 20 years, and on the technological and product design advancements that have been made…
In 1999, I was the Marketing Director for the Bed Frame and Support Surfaces division of a large international medical product manufacturer / distributor, when HME News interviewed me for a segment on support surfaces and asked me what I thought the future of support surface design had in store.
At the time, many DME dealers used well trusted work-horse Low Air Loss products, and powered air products generally were a major market focus. But I stuck my neck out and told HME news that I believed the future of support surface design was not with air support surfaces, but with high-end and high specification non-powered support surfaces made from high-tech foams and fabrics… my prediction was founded on the basis that if technological capacity doubles every two years, so could non-powered support surface technology.…. I knew there had to be a way to move from powered to non-powered through product design and performance improvements.
20 years later, I’m happy to say that my prediction actually came true some 8 years ago. The future is already here!
Polymer technology advancements for non-powered mattresses and sophisticated ergonomic offloading product designs have resulted in clinical outcomes from non-powered systems that may be as good and possibly even better than high end powered support surfaces.
Immersus Health, began designing and manufacturing these types of support surfaces 8 years ago, and now have tens of thousands of Immersus mattresses in use throughout the USA and around the globe.
The design focused on the special needs of the aging population and end of life patients, centering on the three main areas of fall prevention and safety, pressure injury prevention and healing and comfort and pain reduction.
The approach was one of “collaborative design” by soliciting input from an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, engineers and production experts. It was important to be able to prove that a well-designed, scientifically based, ergonomic and offloading non-powered solution really could work to support better clinical outcomes.
For this, Sue Girolami, RN, BSN, WOCN collaborated with the VA Medical Center in Cincinnati, and the Hospice of Dayton to put together a multi-patient clinical outcome study. With 44-patients participating, a clinical outcome study of this size for what is still classed as a DME product, is pretty large. As far as we know, this may be the first time such a study was made with a product specifically designed for end of life, high acuity patients.
The results were amazing… better than expected or hoped for. Compared to pre-study surfaces, perceived comfort, migration, immersion, and heel offloading ratings were significantly higher for the Immersus mattress. No falls occurred, even though there were some “frequent fallers” in the study group, and 17 of the 35 preexisting Pressure Injuries healed. No new avoidable pressure injuries formed during the study.
The outcomes of the study validated that the design was effective, and that a non-powered ergonomic design grounded in scientific offloading principles really does work.
The clinical outcome study by Sue Girolami et al, is published in the peer reviewed scientific journal, Ostomy Wound Management. (now called Wound Management & Prevention)
Here’s a LINK to the online archive, if you’re interested to read the published study.
I’m very proud of the hard work and achievements that Brian Pavlin and the team at the Immersus Health Company have made, and the benefit that Immersus Health has now brought to many thousands of Hospice, Long Term Care and Acute Care patients who use the Immersus and Posture-Mate products today, thanks to our technological and product design advancements, and the fact that we clinically validated our design.
If you haven’t experienced the Immersus Mattress for your patients, and would like to find out more, please visit us at immersushealth.com, or call or email me personally at: 804-318-0351
James.Hadland@immersushealth.com
Thank you for your support !
James Hadland, Senior Vice President – Immersus Health Co
