Stryker`s Speed-Sheet Helps Reduce On-the-Job Injuries

Transporting immobile patients, especially bariatric patients, is hard. And when EMS providers have to do all the heavy lifting they put their own bodies at risk for an injury.

Stryker’s Speed-Sheet patient transfer system can make your job safer.

Jason Likens, director of clinical services for EMSA in Oklahoma, says his agency field-tested the Speed-Sheet with several crews in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa before adopting the system for all its crews.

“The feedback we got from them was that it really did help with heavier patients who were over 150 kg,” Likens says. “(The choice to embrace the Speed-Sheet) was part feedback, part the fact that we’re trying to really cut down on injuries, limit the risk of injury and prolong the longevity of the individual medic. We lose way too many to injuries.”

Featuring GRIP to SLIP technology, the Speed-Sheet makes patient transfers easier and safer. Speed-Sheet changes, in an instant, from a barrier sheet to a convenient, effective transfer aid when providers tear any red activating tab. The sealed edge holds a vacuum between layers. Tearing a tab admits air and transforms Speed-Sheet into a low-friction transfer aid that significantly reduces the lateral transfer force required to move patients from one surface to another.

“It’s very effective for what it’s designed to do,” says Likens, “and it certainly does help in those transfers. Especially in the nursing home or hospital setting, where you have those heavier patients, it helps substantially. I’ve used it and it’s almost like you’re moving small child, that’s how well it works.”

Visit www.ems.stryker.com.