Medical air mattresses, or alternating pressure air mattresses, are used to prevent skin breakdown for patients who are confined and immobile in bed for extended periods of time. The air mattress is designed to be placed on top of a regular or hospital bed mattress and has air chambers that alternately fill to varying degrees. This helps to keep the body from bearing weight on one area of the body consistently. A pump is connected to the air mattress and can be programmed to automatically fill and deflate different areas of the mattress day and night. The system helps to prevent skin breakdown, or bed sores, from forming and promotes skin integrity. Customers rated the Drive Medical Med-Aire 14027, PressureGuard APM2, and the microAIR as the top medical air alternating pressure mattresses. Read on to learn more about these top-rated options.
Each air mattress system is an alternating pressure on-demand system with low air loss. Each system has an air compressor that fills the internal air chambers in an alternating pattern. While one or more chamber fills, another slowly allows air to leave other chamber or chambers.
When a person lies in one place without movement for hours on a firm surface, bone and weight puts pressure on specific points where the body meets the firm surface. When this goes on for a length of time without movement, it causes the skin cells to begin to break down. Alternating pressure when a person is immobile keeps this from happening.
The immobile person will still need to be moved, but not as often due to the movement of the mattress automatically. It is not a replacement for body movement.
Mattresses and compressors can be purchased as a system or individually. It is recommended that you buy a set initially, and then replace either if they need replacing.
The microAIR is constructed with 16 horizontally placed air bladders for maximum automatic movement. The mattress will not bottom out as long as the mattress hose is attached to the compressor unit. It has a choice of four different therapy cycles to choose from, and the pressure can be adjusted by 25%, 50%, or 75% to customize the comfort.
The PressureGuard APM2 has four pressure-reducing air cylinders that are head-to-foot long. It has two therapy selections for well-being and repositioning day and night. It has a lateral rotation mode where one bank of twin cylinders deflate while the other two inflate continuously and gently to rotate pressure for the person.
The Drive Medical 14027 provides alternating pressure and static pressure. The compressor is “whisper quiet,” and there are 20 air bladders. 9 of the bladders have laser holes to increase comfort and keep the person cool. It also comes equipped with special vibration isolating features, LED and an alarm to alert caretakers if the pressure falls below 10mmHg.
Each air mattress is portable and comes with a carrying case for transportation.
The bladders for each air mattress can be replaced because they each have an individual bladder system.
The microAIR mattress has a dual layered quilted 70 denier nylon cover to help protect the person using it from friction and shear. The PressureGuard APM2 mattress has a fluid-proof bacteriostatic cover to inhibit bacteria growth. It has a GeoMatt overlay to redistribute pressure, and three silicone-coated bands are placed at the scapula, sacrum, and heel area to minimize shear pressure. The Drive Medical 14027 uses a Med Aire pressure topper mattress quilted cover is made of urethane-coated nylon fabric. The fabric is water resistant, low sheer, and machine washable.