Stryker | Textile Patient Elevator

Haley Walker, Powell Braddock, Jordan Nash

In 2011, OSHA reported that nearly fifty-percent of injuries reported among nurses were musculoskeletal injuries (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2011). Strains and sprains are most common, but more serious injuries like disc herniations and rotator cuff tears are risks to all medical staff that lift patients using the current industry standard of log rolling, in which the patient is physically rolled to the side while devices are placed under them. This additionally increases risk for patient injuries as a result of spinal rotation.

The Textile Patient Elevator Project, sponsored by Stryker, challenged our team to engineer solutions to lifter and patient injuries as they relate to patient transfer. The goal of this project is the elimination of the log rolling method and subsequent elevation of the patient from the ground to stretcher or bed level.

Through the ideation and prototyping process, our team created three prototypes: the sliding bar, the inclined spineboard, and an inflatable device. After thorough testing and evaluation of the prototypes, the Sliding bar prototype was selected for further development. This prototype functions by using thin steel bars, attached to both sides of a nonwoven sheet. The steel bars on one side of the nonwoven sheet are slid beneath the patient’s natural arches of their neck, back and knees. Once the bars are pulled entirely below the patient, the nonwoven sheet follows under the patient. The steel bars from both sides of the sheet are then attached to a hoyer lift, or another lifting device. The Spunbond-MeltblownSpunbond (SMS) nonwoven sheet used in this device was selected for its combination of strength, sterility, and disposability.