The choice of durable, high-quality medical equipment has a lasting impact on a healthcare organization’s performance metrics across all dimensions: financial, patient outcomes, patient and staff safety, and patient satisfaction.
When it comes to reducing the rate of hospital acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs), facilities must make a careful selection of support surfaces in the hospital environment. For inpatient hospital beds, the standard of care includes specialty mattresses that reduce pressure and shearing and contribute to patient comfort.
As part of this process, there is another support surface that is unfortunately often overlooked: the stretcher mattress. Although these mattresses are intended for short-term use, they are often called into action as a substitute for the hospital bed; and even in a best-case scenario, they see repeated, heavy use throughout their lifetime.
Because of this, low-quality stretcher mattresses pose a risk to the continuity of caring for skin integrity and maintaining patients’ comfort during their hospital stay.
During everyday use, stretcher mattresses are exposed to a variety of mechanical and chemical forces that impact their durability and performance over time. Proactive organizations typically have a cyclical procurement program in place to ensure that all stretcher surfaces are discarded and replaced after no more than three years.
This is one approach to risk management when it comes to stretcher support surfaces, but knowing a stretcher mattress is designed to withstand common threats to safety should play a pivotal role in product selection. These damaging forces include:
Unlike hospital beds, which may see patient turnover every few days or even longer, stretcher mattresses must be cleaned far more often, even many times per day. Cleaning agents used are, by necessity, harsh on stretcher mattress covers, contributing to breakdown.
Aside from patients compressing the mattress itself, there are many other wear and tear forces exerted on a stretcher mattress. Patients are often transferred from the stretcher to other surfaces by staff helping to slide them across the mattress — sometimes using products like hard slide boards which dig into the mattress surface.
Scrapes and tears are a threat which introduces the possibility of mattress contamination with bodily fluids or infectious pathogens if the cover cannot hold up to these forces.
Additionally, the stretcher itself is designed to bend, raising and lowering the head of the mattress many times over the course of a day.
To provide outstanding quality, thereby improving infection control, reduction of pressure injuries, and enhanced patient comfort and satisfaction, a durable stretcher mattress should be part of a facility’s support surface procurement plan.
The Geo-Mattress ® UltraMax™ combats the dangers of pressure injury and shearing while also providing durable, long-lasting performance. This stretcher surface is designed with features inside and out to combat wear-and-tear forces:
Designed to support up to 700 lbs. of weight, the UltraMax™ also comes with a non-prorated 3-year warranty, giving you peace of mind that replacement cost is covered in the unlikely event of product failure.
With a standard depth of 5”, thicker than a traditional stretcher mattress, the UltraMax™ goes beyond durability with comfort similar to that of a hospital bed, improving patient satisfaction and rest.
The anatomically calibrated layering of the 3-Dimensional Zoning™ design provides support and appropriate immersion to help protect tissues from excessive pressure and breakdown, and the non-shearing surface with individually articulating cells help dissipate heat and moisture.
All these factors combined mean a stretcher support surface that is made to last and helps protect patients from pressure injuries and discomfort. In contrast, it’s easy to see how the wrong stretcher mattress can become a weak link in meeting organizational goals, both from a financial and patient outcome perspective.
If you’re ready to learn more about selecting a durable, innovative stretcher mattress like Savaria’s Geo-Mattress ® UltraMax™, get in touch with our experts today. We can help you ensure quality outcomes across the spectrum of patient support surfaces.
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