A Randomised Stratified Survey of the Current use of an Alternating Pressure Air Mattress Within the National Health Service

Abstract

Summary Little is known about the range and variability of pressure area care within the UK. While pressure-redistributing (PR) mattress use has become widespread during the past ten years, there is little information on how such devices are used. This paper describes a randomised stratified survey of the current use of one PR support surface. 412 mattresses were included in the survey, of which 329 were in use at the time of the visit of the data collector to the provider unit. 74.2% of mattresses in use were found in hospitals. Of the 329 mattresses, 80.2% were being used to prevent the development of sores. The majority of subjects had been assessed using the Waterlow Scale, with 73.6% judged to be at high or very high risk of developing sores. Seventeen (5.2%) subjects developed sores post allocation of the mattress. At the time of mattress allocation, 98 subjects had 130 established sores, of these sores 57 (43.8%) were reported to be full-thickness (severe). The majority of sores (76.5%) were reported to be improving following allocation of the PR mattress. Five key implications for nursing practice were identified through the data collected during this survey - a new indication for use of the APAM, the confusion over relative effectiveness of PR surfaces, the loss of PR mattresses to the NHS, the manual repositioning of mobile patients and the shortage of PR cushions within the NHS.