16% of Europe’s population is over the age of 65, and this figure is expected to reach 25% by the year 2040. Aging is also affecting nurses and caregivers. As the average age of the hospital personnel increases, so does the demand for assistive mobility systems that allow nurses to work effectively more years.
Nowadays, nurses need to change manually the position of patients every 2 to 4 hours. Manual handling is not the only discomfort for patients but is also reported to cause an outstanding amount of work-related back injuries; with 85% of nurses suffering back injury at some point in their career. This new technology reduces or eliminates the current dependency of patients when they desire to change their posture in the bed. The technology must also contribute to improving the work conditions of caregivers by reducing the need for periodic manual positioning of patients.
The solution consists of a specialty bed with automatic positioning, driven by intelligent software. It allows patients with limited mobility to change their position in bed without the need of assistance from hospital personnel. Then, the patient can command the movements of the bed with slight body movements. No need to use a remote controller or human assistance.