Turns q2h

[CBsMommy]

I have thought about this question over and over again. If someone is placed on a specialty mattress (air mattress) that is designed to shift the weight of the patient, why continue the q2h turns? I could see it if the patient were uncomfortable or incontinent. But would you wake them in the middle of the night q2h to turn them if they weren't soiled and sleeping peacefully? I'm just curious. I really don't mind turning them but the patients don't like it when you wake them up and I can't say I blame them!

[emetts]

I am an RN student who used to be a specialty bed/mattress vendor. The main thing to note about any LAL mattress is that although pressure is redistributed from the bony prominences, true "offloading" is never accomplished as it is with q2 turning. One of the things I frequently witnessed was the heels responding extremely well to the pressure-redistribution mattress/overlay, but sacral-coccygeal breakdown would invariably occur if a caregiver failed to reposition q.2.h.