More than 1 million people develop pressure ulcers each year, according to the National Decubitus Foundation, an organisation committed to eradicating bedsores. The UK's National Health Service found that up to 20% of patients in acute care, 30% of people in the community, and 20% of people in nursing and residential care suffer pressure ulcers.
In October 2008 the US Medicare and Medicaid services implemented rules that meant hospitals would no longer be reimbursed for treating pressure ulcers, as they are considered reasonably preventable.
As a result, treatments can prove to be a burden on the US healthcare budget: a market study in 1991 estimated that the overall cost of treating pressure ulcers in US healthcare totals more than $5 billion (€3.6 billion), at $2,000-5,000 each. A 2004 study of costs for UK healthcare put the cost at around $2,500-$12,500, depending on complications in the condition.
Accounting for the cost and prevalence of the bed sore issue, as well as the level of suffering involved, it is reasonable to assume there is an urgent need for innovation: the sort of situation that plastic electronic technologies like smart textiles aim to address.
Innovation
Smart fabric producer Eeonyx has been developing a range of technologies to offer functionality including thermal and sensing capability. Through a partnership with sensor supplier Vista Medical, the smart fabrics have been applied to bedding that would be suitable for monitoring patients and identifying areas of pressure.
In September 2010 Vista Medical secured an exclusive agreement to supply the pressure sensing bedding technology to Stryker Medical, a supplier of hospital beds. The technology will become available by the end of 2011, according to Jamshid Avloni, CEO +Plastic Electronics volume 3, issue 5of Eeonyx, and Rob Golden, president and chairman of Vista Medical.
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