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Weslaco – Hospital patients at Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco will benefit from 85 new high-tech “i-Beds” which are designed to increase patient comfort and safety and to be quieter so patients can get more rest.

In addition to the 85 new Stryker S-3 MedSurg “i-Beds”, Knapp has also added seven new state-of-the-art labor and delivery beds to benefit Mid-Valley women while they are delivering their babies.

Similar to how an “i-phone” helps many people with daily tasks, the new “i-Beds” can help doctors and nurses by “remembering” the optimum settings to decrease the risk of a patient falling out of bed, as well as with other tasks related to taking care of patients.

“These new beds will be more comfortable for our patients,” said Anna Hinojosa, RN, MSN, Chief Nursing Officer for Knapp Medical Center. “These beds are very quiet, so they will help the patient to get more rest.”

The “i-Beds” are also more aesthetically pleasing to patients and loved ones, as there are fewer ancillary devices attached to the bed. Instead, this equipment is integrated into the bed itself.

Ms. Hinojosa noted that state-of-the-art beds can also help prevent skin breakdown as well as falls in vulnerable patients.

In order to protect the skin of patients who are at high risk for developing skin ulcers or who have wounds, the i-Beds can be inflated so that they turn into an air mattress at the top of the bed.

“When it turns into an air mattress, it’s like the patient is floating on the gel,” said Donna Graham, RN, MSN, a nurse and clinical educator with Knapp Medical Center. “This decreases the pressure on the patient’s skin, helps prevent bed sores, and promotes healing.”

Ms. Graham said another high-tech feature of the i-Beds is that they set five parameters to help prevent patient falls.

“The nurse pushes a button and it takes a screen-shot of the best settings,” she added. “This bed remembers things!”

This nifty feature enables nurses to quickly re-set the bed to prevent falls if someone else changes the settings.

Patients who may be at risk for falling include those who just had knee, hip, or other surgeries; those who have conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease; weak or elderly patients who may be confused by being in a different environment outside their home; and patients who are taking pain medications or other medications they aren’t used to, which could make them feel dizzy.

“Enhanced fall prevention makes these beds much safer for the patients,” Ms. Graham added. “It has alarms that warn the nurses if a high-risk patient tries to get out of bed.”

Ms. Graham noted that preventing falls and pressure ulcers are even more important in critical patients – including patients who may be on a ventilator, such as COVID-19 patients as well as non-COVID-19 patients.

In addition, the i-Beds can help alert doctors and nurses if a patient starts retaining fluid — which can be harmful to kidney failure and heart failure patients. The bed “remembers” the past 10 readings of a patient’s weight – so the doctor or nurse can quickly check to see if the patient may be experiencing a sudden increase in weight.

The new “i-Beds will be used on the Medical, Surgical, and Telemetry floors at Knapp, while the new labor and delivery beds are being used on the Women’s Services floor.

The addition of the i-Beds is part of Knapp Medical Center’s continuous efforts to improve patient safety. Knapp has received several awards, including the excellence award for patient safety from Healthgrades, a national healthcare information company.

For more information on patient safety and award-winning hospital care in the Mid-Valley, please call (956) 968-8567 or visit www.KnappMed.org and www.FaceBook.com/KnappMedicalCenter/. Also to view a news story on the i-Beds by KRGV Channel 5, please go to https://www.krgv.com/videos/weslaco-hospital-adds-85-high-tech-beds-to-provide-better-comfort-for-patients/ or to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H_ayO4dJN0.