Medical Community Information

How does the Sequential Automated Turning (S.A.T.) System Address Patient and Nursing Safety Issues?

Patients who are immobile are at highest risk of developing hospital acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs). Ensuring regular movement or using repositioning redistributes pressure and helps prevent pressure damage.

  • Keeping patients moving is a key component of pressure injury prevention
  • Repositioning is important for patients who are unable to move around easily
  • Nurses need to be competent in the use of devices that help with repositioning (1)

Preventing HAPIs can be nursing intensive, and the challenge is even more difficult when there is nursing staff turnover and shortages. Studies suggest that HAPI development can be directly affected by the number of registered nurses and time spent at the bedside (2). Patients with HAPIs had significantly higher in-hospital mortality rates across stages, as well as higher risk of readmissions at 30-, 90- and 180-days post hospitalization, compared with patients without HAPI (3). By preventing HAPIs, hospitals have the potential to reduce unreimbursed treatment expenditures, reduce length of stay, minimize readmissions, prevent associated complications, and improve overall outcomes for their patients (3)

The S.A.T. System utilizes automated technology to address patient safety related to HAPI prevention. The system is designed to automatically turn and reposition patients frequently in order to reduce the risk HAPI. By using the SAT system, patients are safer as a result of:

  • Automated turning and repositioning frequently-keeping patients moving and frequently repositioned as often as every 30 minutes to every 2 hours
  • Ease of use addresses nursing staff competency with the device and ensures that patients are correctly turned and repositioned
  • The automated technology reduces nursing workload burden by serving as a patient turning and repositioning aid, which is especially important in the current climate of high turnover and national staffing shortages
  • The S.A.T. is designed to prevent HAPI, thereby reducing length of stay, minimizing readmissions, preventing associated complications, and improving overall patient outcomes.

References:

  1. Fletcher J (2020) Pressure ulcer education 5: keeping patients moving. Nursing Times [online]; 116: 2, 28-30
  2. Horn, S. D., Buerhaus, P., Bergstrom, N., & Smout, R. J. (2005). RN staffing time and outcomes of long-stay nursing home residents: pressure ulcers and other adverse outcomes are less likely as RNs spend more time on direct patient care. The American journal of nursing, 105(11), 58–71. https://doi.org/10.1097/00000446-200511000-00028
  3. Wassel, C. L., Delhougne, G., Gayle, J. A., Dreyfus, J., & Larson, B. (2020). Risk of readmissions, mortality, and hospital-acquired conditions across hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI) stages in a US National Hospital Discharge database. International wound journal, 17(6), 1924–1934. https://doi.org/10.1111/iwj.13482

In any healthcare facility, the goal is to take the best possible care of patients.  With that said, for immobile or deconditioned patients, it is important for caregivers to frequently turn and reposition patients.

Our innovative product makes quick work of turning those patients as needed.  One caregiver can do the job with little or no effort at all. The Sequential Automated Turning system consists of two inflatable wedges that are positioned beneath the patient. An air hose extends from the bottom of each wedge to an air pump that is connected to the foot of the bed or placed on the floor.

Once the wedges are in place, all the user has to do is plug the air hoses into the inlets in the air pump and choose whether to sequentially inflate and deflate every 30 minutes, every hour, or every two hours. After that, it works with a simple push start. It will inflate one side for the predetermined time, then deflate that and inflate the other side.

It continuously, automatically, and sequentially turns the patient left or right at least 30 to 40 degrees, which is the standard range for turning patients to avoid pressure ulcers.

Easily adjusted to accommodate the patient’s needs, it can be used on almost any bed surface and does not require additional equipment or bed modifications to operate (many competitors require modifications to beds or additional equipment installation in order to utilize the product).