Intelligent Care System for Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Treatment

Each year about 400,000 people in Germany suffer from pressure ulcers, or bedsores. The problem is especially common in immobile bedridden patients and in care recipients who cannot be adequately mobilized or repositioned often enough.

The aim of the “INSYDE“ project is to develop an intelligent, adaptive mattress for the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers. The mattress will identify a patient’s position in bed and suggest a new position to relieve pressure. Once cleared by a professional or family caregiver, the change of position will be automatically effected by actuators embedded in the mattress along with sensors measuring pressure distribution. Information on the repositioning and the pressure distribution created in the process will be shown on a display attached to the bed. Finally, this information will be automatically added to existing care documentation.

The “INSYDE“ project has produced the concept for an intelligent care system for pressure ulcer prevention and treatment. Uniquely, the system will be essentially self-regulating and enable automated care documentation, thus helping significantly improve the quality of care.