Overview

Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs, also called pressure ulcers or bed sores) pose significant risks for patients and challenges to the Canadian health care system. Pressure injuries can emerge and worsen quickly – and are associated with severe patient outcomes, including increased risk of sepsis, limb loss and even death. They’re also costly to treat in terms of clinician time, hospital bed use and financial resources.  

These extremely painful wounds can develop over bony areas when patients are in the same position for a prolonged period. Older patients and those in intensive care units (ICUs) are particularly vulnerable to HAPIs due to their increased frailty and reduced mobility.  

About 70% of pressure injuries are preventable, and repositioning patients frequently plays a crucial role. However, patient boosting / repositioning carries a high risk of injury for frontline care providers. 

Through our large-scale procurements and value-added solutions, Mohawk Medbuy (MMC) works closely with hospitals throughout Canada to help drive the adoption of innovative products that address health care’s pain points. One example is an advanced patient repositioning system that’s helping prevent pressure injuries and reducing the associated risk of injury to health care workers.

Pressure Injuries – Prevalence & Cost

The Challenge

“Nurses are often the first line of defense against pressure injuries,” said Ossie Bispo, Clinical and Quality Assurance Manager, Mohawk Medbuy. “It’s important to implement solutions that can help prevent HAPIs while reducing risk of injury for busy frontline health care staff.” 

Grappling with a high incidence of pressure injuries, staff shortages and heavy patient load in their ICUs, MMC Member hospital Trillium Health Partners (THP) undertook a new approach to preventing HAPIs in 2022. “Our primary goal was to decrease the number of pressure injury occurrences in ICU to prevent needless harm to patients and promote safety,” said Hetal Bambharoliya, Clinical Educator, ICU & Critical Care Development, THP. “To achieve that goal, we needed to develop a sustainable process that allowed frontline staff to provide best wound care practices and pressure injury prevention (PIP) measures with best practice standards – while supporting our care providers.”

Utilizing an MMC contract, THP implemented an innovative patient repositioning system to support safe and efficient patient handling as a key part of this initiative.

The outcome

The repositioning system offloads the patient’s sacrum, minimizes patient migration down the bed and reduces the need for boosting – all of which has contributed to a 50% overall reduction in painful pressure ulcers across the hospital’s participating ICU sites. Using air-assisted technology, the system also significantly reduces the effort required to move patients and the related strain on frontline staff’s hands, wrists, shoulders and backs. Equally important, the system stays underneath the patient throughout their hospital stay, increasing compliance and reducing the chance of workarounds from staff. 

Although implementing the repositioning system is more expensive initially than other tools, the benefits for patients and frontline staff make the return on investment compelling. The advantages of prevention can extend across the health care continuum, since fewer patients will require post-discharge wound care in long-term care and community care settings.

Trillium Health Partners Reported 

• 50% overall reduction in pressure injuries across participating sites since 2022

• Increase in healed pressure injuries 

• Increase in staff confidence in hospital’s wound care practices

THP engaged 25 Pressure Injury Champions across their ICUs to provide mentorship and reinforce standards, with nursing staff expressing high levels of satisfaction and engagement in the initiative. “Buy-in from frontline staff is crucial for this program’s success,” said Hetal. “Through continued education, we’re confident we can sustain these results – which is a win-win for our patients and staff.”

Procurement Benefits