when should you step a person up to an air mattress?
It’s important to have a good baseline pressure ulcer risk assessment & care plan in place and communicate effectively with the patient about moving onto a more specialised mattress. It helps to explore their knowledge, preferences & any barriers that may arise with change. Step a patient up to an air mattress as & when their condition changes/deteriorates, & they become high/very high risk, or they have developed a Category 3/4 PU. Whenever a patient’s condition changes you should reassess their PU risk & use their risk score along with your clinical judgement to either step a patient up or down. It’s also important to consider possible future deterioration, such as end of life care. They may start on a foam mattress which can later have a pump added (Series6 OneSurface™), or a dual function mattress which is dynamic and at a later stage could provide lateral tilt and micromovements.