Project Overview

Home caregivers’ most challenging activities when caring for individuals with very limited mobility relate to transfers to and from beds, and to mobility-in-bed. Mechanical lifts reduce the demands of these activities, but do not eliminate them. Most notably, for a lift to be used, a sling must first be placed under the care recipient. This is a physically strenuous process if the care recipient cannot assist: either the individual is manually rolled onto one side, then the other to permit sling placement, or a slide sheet is used to pull a sling under their body. Sling placement is particularly difficult for home caregivers who work alone or care for people in low and/or wide beds. Unfortunately, this difficulty is so great that it often reduces the frequency of transfers or leads to the sling being left under the person, thus increasing the risk of pressure ulcers.

SlingSerter is an effortless alternative: sling straps are inflated using compressed air and gently unfurl under the care recipient. Once 3-5 straps have been placed, they are connected to a lift and used to raise the person a short distance above the bed. It is then easy for the caregiver to place a sling, change bedsheets, provide incontinence care, or reposition the person in bed.

This project will make SlingSerter available to home caregivers through a partnership with Prism Medical (a Handicare company), who have an established line of home lifting products. Guided by feedback from homecare providers, family caregivers and care recipients, we will work to prepare a version of SlingSerter that is optimized for homecare. An effortless sling insertion method will reduce physical demands on caregivers, promoting care recipient health and mobility by enabling more frequent transfers and reducing the incentive to leave slings under people between transfers.