Many of the patients admitted onto our wards are very acutely unwell. Often initially they are not ready to receive a lot of therapy input and during this time as well as recovering from an acute illness they are at high risk of and often do experience deconditioning. This means once they are ready for their therapy input to begin they are often weaker than on admission. The S Press could benefit patients during this stage of their admission as following an initial assessment by a Physiotherapist they would be able to use this whilst recovering (and potentially remaining on bed rest) to maintain the strength in their legs which will ultimately prevent them from deconditioning and allow them to maintain functional ability. Elderly patients experience muscle weakness and wasting at a quick rate whilst unwell and not using them.
The S Press could also help patients to improve or increase the strength in their lower limbs as part of their treatment plan. There is a proportion of our patients that although are older are very physically well and active prior to a hospital admission. I believe that for these patients it could be a good motivational tool and stimulate competition as to how many repetitions patients could do and what resistance they could manage. I can also see a place for this device in a group exercise setting.
Working on a busy, acute hospital ward puts multiple time pressures onto us as clinicians and it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage the expectations of therapy provision of both patients and their families/carers. The S Press could help with this as it is a device that after the initial assessment could be set up by our Technical Instructors and can be used by patients on a day when I am unable to see them personally for treatment. It could be used by multiple patients during one day as it is a relatively quick and simple device to set up/clean/maintain. This could help decrease our stress levels. It could also help me to reach the gold standard of service that I personally and my directorate/trust strive to achieve by increasing the amount of times patients receive therapy and ultimately provide better outcomes for patients.
Melissa Cloke
