NYC Health + Hospitals has completed a $30.5 million upgrade to replace more than 2,000 hospital beds across its facilities. The investment brings smart bed technology designed to address two persistent patient safety challenges: pressure injuries and falls.
All medical-surgical units now have Hillrom Centrella beds with fall prevention features including alarms, voice alerts in English and Spanish and floor-projected safety icons. ICU beds were upgraded to Hillrom Progressa models that offer positioning assistance and therapeutic vibration and rotation settings to help clear lung fluid, the New York City-based health system said in a Nov. 18 news release.
Both bed types include pressure redistribution mattresses and USB charging ports for patient devices. The health system said it is also upgrading its nurse call platform to support integration with the standardized beds and its Epic EHR.
“Bed sores and falls are two of the key challenges our care providers face during prolonged hospitalizations, so to be able to protect our patients from those risks will be a huge step forward,” Danielle DiBari, PharmD, senior vice president of business operations and chief procurement officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, said in a news release. “And from a simple comfort perspective, offering an easily accessible place our patients can plug in their phones and stay connected to loved ones makes a huge difference.”
The bed replacement is part of broader supply chain improvements at the health system, which recently completed a linen management upgrade that is expected to save more than $3 million annually.
