In June a monitoring system is becoming commercially available that will allow nursing staff to
accurately record the mobility of bedridden persons. The system has been developed for the
prevention of bedsores by Compliant Concept, a start-up at Empa’s glaTec technology center.
Healthy people move an average of two to four times per hour in their sleep. The movements are triggered
by pain that occurs when tissue has an insufficient blood supply. The sleeping person changes position
involuntarily, relieves the pressure point and therefore prevents bedsores, which are known in professional
jargon as “decubitus ulcers”. However, the decubitus prophylaxis that is “built in” by nature does not work in
people with paralysis and patients who are sedated, unconscious or suffering from a high fever; often it also
fails in elderly people.
The lack of movement means that parts of the body remain under pressure for too
long, and the micro-circulation is interrupted. If this persists for too long, it can result in a painful bedsore.
In order to prevent this, bedridden patients must be moved at regular intervals. Compliant Concept, a spinoff
of Empa and ETH Zurich, has developed a “Mobility Monitor” that alerts nursing staff when it is time to
reposition a patient. The system assesses and records the mobility of a bedridden person. The monitoring
system is part of a bigger concept for decubitus prophylaxis that is developed with doctors and care experts.
The goal of Michael Sauter and his team is to establish an entire hospital bed system that imitates the
movements of a healthy person during sleep and therefore continuously and gently moves the patients.
The measuring unit of the new system is installed beneath the mattress and connected to the display unit at
the edge of the bed as well as to the light signaling system. The monitor uses a traffic light system to show
how mobile the patient is at any given time, and therefore provides valuable information that helps nursing
staff to correctly estimate the risk of decubitus, and therefore reduces unnecessary physical effort.
The nursing staff is often unsure whether the patients need to be moved at all. Particularly during the night, it
would be better if the patients’ sleep did not have to be disturbed unnecessarily. The system also reminds the
personnel when the next movement is due and issues a warning if too much time has gone by since the last
movement.
Successful in numerous tests
In the last few months the new system has proven itself to be extremely useful in numerous tests in care
homes and hospitals. The “Mobility Monitor” will be available on the Swiss market as of June. It can be
purchased directly from Compliant Concept.
Financing for further projects relating to the “intelligent” hospital bed, for which the fledgling company has
already received several awards, has been secured until the end of the year. Until then Sauter wants to obtain
additional capital for the company by means of another round of financing so that the product can be
launched internationally over the next few years.
www.compliant-concept.ch
