WATER BED/MATTRESS

Typical Number in Hospital: 10

Cost Bands: 3

References:

In cases where it is very important that the patient is supported without applying large pressures to the skin (e.g. in burns cases) the bed may consist of a large tank of warmed water covered by a plastic sheet. The patient floats as if in water but is kept dry. An alternative version is a thin mattress consisting of a double sheet of plastic welded together to provide two separate channels for the water to pass through. A ripple effect is achieved by directing the warm water through one channel for a few minutes, and then through the other so that the patient is supported on different parts of the mattress in the two phases of the cycle thus avoiding prolonged pressure on any point on the body.

Typical parameters for a ripple heat mattress and controller might be heating from 20 to 37[d]C in 15 minutes from a 2 litre reservoir tank, and delivering a flow rate of 45 l/h in the ripple mode and twice this in the non-ripple mode. The ripple cycle might be 6 minutes.