Pro Axis Care Bed - Bariatric (obese patient) care bed

Abstract

Product Design for Manufacture

Client: Manufacturer and Supplier of electronically controlled hospital beds.

Aim: Care of bariatric (obese) patients has become a major issue in health care. Existing bariatric beds were expensive, had poor performance, high failure rates and poor aesthetics. The client approached PDR to re-design their pressure area care profiling beds. Objectives: Design and implement a bariatric care bed that would a) Assist nursing staff in giving superior care to patients weighing up to 350kg, b) Meet stringent regulations c) Visually acceptable d) Maintenance friendly e) Reduce manual handling injury claims from nurses.

PDR designed a bed for patients weighing up to 350kg (safe working load 700kg). The bed has an innovative internal frame allowing for an extra wide mattress with extra sleep space, and longer length for taller patients whilst taking up no more space than a standard hospital bed, fitting into a standard hospital bay. The bed also uses an innovative, ergonomic ‘free floating’ mattress platform that profiles to match the contours of the patient, thus reducing friction on patient’s skin and reducing pressure sores.

The bed has reduced assembly times by 63%, reduced manufacturing costs by 20%, and reduced maintenance time by 30%, resulting in significant increases in profit margin due to reduced cost (20%) and price increase (30%). Leasing the bed for six weeks covers its manufacturing costs.

Sales have increased by 287%, bringing the company from a loss of $400,000 to a profit of $390,000 by 2006.

The impact of this design has been shown by the fact that it has been adopted by the largest global hospital bed manufacturer Hill-Rom as their standard bariatric product and will be distributed on a world-wide basis. The bed has also been accepted into the NHS Purchase and Supply Authority (PASA).