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We are in the process of buying new Air mattresses (pressure relieving) and would be interested to know which types other hospitals use and how they clean these between patients, other comments welcome.

Peter
We have a range of mattress models supplied by Huntleigh and Pegasus. Betweeen patients the ward staff are responsible for cleaning the devices. If badly contaminated they are returned to HSDU for more extensive cleaning.

Peter,

we have 85 PRM's for our hospital (550 beds), Nimbus 3's, Alpha-Excel and Breeze systems. These are all on lease.

The wards are responsible for cleaning equipment after use, and then cleaned again with Acti-Chlor disinfectant within the Equipment Library. We also have an arrangement for contaminated equipment i.e. MRSA, to be cleaned by Huntleigh Healthcare, which are swapped-out for clean systems. We are allowed to have five systems cleaned per month for free, after which we pay X amount.

Roger…

Peter,
The nursing staff love to use alcohol wipes to clean everything as they are easy to get hold of, easy to use and easy to dispose of, unlike a bowl of water.
BUT.... The alcohol breaks down the water resistance properties of the mattress covers so you can get lots of unpleasant stains and bugs inside.
Really emphasise this point as it is a real infection risk.
Robert

Peter,
We use Huntleigh mattresses, AlphaXcells, Autoexcels and Nimbus 2&3. A small amount are owned, some are under contract - paid monthly and if more are needed above that we also rent them. Nursing staff should clean them after each patient use and return to the Library, which then cleans them again or in most cases cleans them for the 1st time. We use a General Purpose Liquid Detergent then wash with Actichlore. The Wards should at least be using the Detergent but they seem to find the hand soap more useful - which then is either a washing machine job for the top cover or sent back to Huntleigh to be swaped if it is one of their mattress.

Peter,
we use Huntleigh systems here (almost exclusively). We have a combination of owned and rented systems on site at any one time.
Nursing staff now do not need to clean systems at the ward level as the equipment is managed via a loan library operation.However they are responsible for safe handling and 'bagging' ready for removal. If you wish to see the operation, as above, i have a contact.
The system is fully documented and our Infection control department are on board with the process, system and cleaning agents/methods as is the manufacturer.
(We are located about 40 miles north from you).

Steve