No one understands front-line patient care challenges better than clinicians themselves.
Clinicians’ unique perspective shaped the development of the Helping Hands tissue displacement strap. Both patients and the nurses who care for them are the ones who need a “helping hand” from this unique product.
Nurses Are Lifting More Mass
Patients’ body mass index measurements (BMI) are increasing, with 4 out of 10 US adults now falling into the clinical definition of obesity (BMI>95th percentile for the reference measurement set). Nurses are uniquely vulnerable to disabling back injuries on the job – in any given year, half of all nurses will suffer from lower back pain. These two trends come together when patients need help positioning their bodies for required nursing care. Nurses are asked to lift heavy patient body parts to perform care at the bedside or support procedures in the operating room. In the general patient population, this can mean multiple tissue lifts per patient per day by the nursing staff. In a dedicated bariatric unit serving patients suffering from severe obesity, tissue positioning is even more challenging.
Positioning heavier patients can require two or even three additional people at the bedside, taking staff offline from patient care tasks. If extra bedside assistance isn’t available (or if nurses are reluctant to call in their colleagues on a busy shift), nurses use awkward workarounds to lift heavy tissue, like tying bedsheets or repurposing a limb sling. They may also resort to expensive specialty tissue positioners developed for the demands of intraoperative use.
Helping Hands Is Designed for Essential Nursing Care
The Helping Hands tissue displacement strap lets just one person safely move or lift the patient’s pannus or other tissue out of the way for care or procedures. Designed for convenient, disposable use at the bedside, the Helping Hands positioner lets one clinician quickly and safely move patient tissue out of the way for care like hygiene, skin checks, central venous line placement or catheter placement.
The Helping Hands strap keeps patients’ skin safe with a hydrocolloid adhesive patch. The patch gently adheres to the patient’s skin, then the hook-and-loop straps buckle around bed rails one at a time, to move tissue away from the treatment area.
The Helping Hands strap is a quick and convenient solution that protects nurses’ backs, nurses’ time, hospital budgets, and most importantly, patient care and dignity.
The Helping Hands strap was developed by MD Invent Solutions, an innovation and commercialization company for clinicians. MD Invent Solutions helps clinicians develop new products, and ASP Global serves as their partner to connect health systems to these innovations.
To receive a sample of the product or for inquiries, please contact William Fallon at william.fallon@aspglobal.com
To see a video of the product in action, click the video link below.
