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ICU pillow device aids care of sickest patients

Mae Davage,Somersetand
Ross Pollard,BBC News, Somerset
News imageBBC A doctor and nurse demonstrate the BathMat with a member of staff acting as a patient. BBC
The BathMat gently raises critically ill patients who need to be placed on their front for many hours

Trials of an inflatable pillow developed to make moving ventilated patients lying on their front easier and safer have found it reduces the demands on ICU teams.

The BathMat was created by the University of Bath and Royal United Hospitals (RUH) to be used under a prone patient's chest and abdomen to raise them.

Patients lying prone have to be repositioned up to seven times a day and preliminary findings showed the device cut the number of staff needed from five to three.

Dr Alexander Lunt, senior lecturer at the university said the device was inspired by ICU teams' experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic which remain relevant as they "continue to operate under significant workforce pressure".

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News imageTwo academics from the university of Bath look over the BathMat which they have designed and adapted through the trial at the RUH.
Engineers at the University of Bath have adapted the device throughout the trial

Prone ventilation is widely used to treat severe respiratory failure and patients are placed on their front for 16 hours a day.

The RUH said the BathMat has been designed to free up intensive care teams, helping patients receive more consistent repositioning, "even during periods of workforce pressure".

The trial, which concluded in June this year, involved 30 patients and around 160 repositioning procedures. As well as reducing the number of people needed, it was also found it saved an hour of staff time per procedure.

News imageDr Jerome Condry looks over a member of staff acting as a patient and being lifted by the BathMat.
Dr Jerome Condry says the BathMat has freed up medical staff

Lund, who was also the lead engineer on the project, said: "These early clinical results show that we can safely reduce the number of staff required to reposition ventilated patients while maintaining high standards of care," he said.

Dr Jerome Condry, an anaesthetics registrar and research fellow at the RUH and chief investigator on the trial, said: "Evidence suggests that patients with complex care needs or a high body mass index may have reduced access to this treatment [prone ventilation] because of the resources required to deliver it.

"Our work aims to help close that gap while improving the care provided to all proned patients," he said.

It is planned to make the device available to NHS hospitals in the coming years.

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