Apparatus and Method for Moving Patients

Movement of non ambulatory patients is typically a physically demanding, resource intensive intervention that places the healthcare team members at risk of injury. A quantitative survey of healthcare team members perspectives on the challenges associated with patient movement will be distributed. This is particularly true for caregivers responsible for severely ill respiratory failure patients (ie COVID 19) who are moved into prone position (flipped on to their stomach) and back to supine over a 16 hour cycle, typically repeated for several days, as part of their therapy. (proning) A method of wrapping the patient in a secure "cocoon" which is coupled to a mechanical lift system through a designed strapping system and support bar will be tested for proning on healthy volunteers and then in the clinical environment ( intensive care unit (ICU) . Healthcare team members will complete surveys to assess ease of use, efficiency, safety and physical demands of this process relative to traditional (control) manual methods of patient reorientation, without the use of assists for proning. Critically ill nonambulatory patients require assistance to move. The AMMP can be used to assist and impressions of this device. Comparing the impressions of healthcare team members of the use of the AMMP, repositioning sheets, and to care without the use of a movement assistance device will be undertaken using quantitative surveys An economic analysis of the use of the AMMP to prone patients, focused on personnel time and personal protective equipment use, compared to proning without assistance, will be completed