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New bed system helps prevent bedsores

SINGAPORE — Patients or elderly folk who have difficulty changing their positions in bed often suffer from bedsores, especially in Singapore’s tropical climate, where the surroundings can get uncomfortably warm and humid.

SINGAPORE — Patients or elderly folk who have difficulty changing their positions in bed often suffer from bedsores, especially in Singapore’s tropical climate, where the surroundings can get uncomfortably warm and humid.

To solve the problem, a group of third-year engineering students from Singapore Polytechnic (SP) has devised a system that can automatically adjust the bed temperature so that it keeps the bed cool and reduces moisture, thus minimising the risk of bedsores.

Each bed is equipped with a sensor which detects the person’s temperature, with a self-calibrating system that can maintain an optimal temperature of 25°C to reduce sweating.

The system also has separate sensors to notify nurses to change the patient’s position on the bed every two hours and to detect whether the patient — in particular the elderly — has fallen off the bed.

The bed system, which is the group’s final-year project, is being featured at the two-day SP Engineering Show, which began yesterday.

Mr Stewart Tai, one of the industry panellists who were present to analyse the healthcare projects featured at the show, said: “In our hot and humid environment, the patients may sweat a lot. Because of the moisture from the sweat, and if they have difficulties moving, they are at a high risk of getting bedsores.”

“So, I think this system could be used in the future as it’s what we’ve been looking for,” said Mr Tai, a facility innovation manager at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

Dr Jaichandar K S, a senior lecturer at SP’s School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, said two of the beds had undergone testing at the Bethany Methodist Nursing Home and had seen a 100 per cent detection rate of elderly falling off the bed, based on the data obtained from the home.

He noted that currently, 17.2 per cent of such cases go unnoticed, which have resulted in the aggravating of injuries, especially for the elderly.

Mr Tai added: “The most effective way to prevent these falls is to get a caretaker to care for the elderly right beside them, but that’s going to be very costly. I think the (bed) system is very feasible and a cost-effective way to prevent this.”

The bed is estimated to cost about S$1,000, said Dr Jaichandar, who specialises in biomedical engineering.

The school is currently working with its industry partners to commercialise the bed and it is expected to be available to hospitals and nursing homes by next year, he added.

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