In this issue of Healthcare Matters, we are delighted to showcase Pobroll® as our Bed Bathing Innovation Company of the Month.
Having a proper wash and feeling clean is a basic human right, but for many bed-bound individuals, the bed bath is often dreaded by carers and clients alike:
- Individuals feel cold and embarrassed – ending up in damp clothes due to a rush to get dressed again (to prevent further embarrassment)
- Anxiety can cause dementia sufferers to become quickly upset and agitated, which further impacts on carer stress and standards of hygiene are often compromised in the rush to re-dress them.
- The carer also has to change all the bed linen which invariably gets wet
- Introducing the Pobroll®: A revolution in hygiene care
- The Pobroll® is a totally waterproof calming bed-bathing wrap designed to improve the user and carer experience of the bed bath, addressing all of the aforementioned issues.
The Pobroll® is made of two layers of high-quality soft terry-cotton with an impermeable material sandwiched between them to ensure total waterproofing. The smart-yet-simple design allows for person-centred care and is easy to use, effective, and highly adaptable.
With a focus on personal dignity, the Pobroll® keeps the individual warm and respectfully covered during personal washing on the bed, whilst also keeping the bed completely dry. This reduces embarrassment and allows for a calm and more agreeable bathing experience for all concerned.
Tackling the taboo of continence care and cocoon care: The importance of kindness
“The issue of continence care is not a topic many healthcare companies wish to embrace due to the acute sensitivity around the intimate nature of this task. However, Pobroll® is ‘grasping the nettle’ and seeking to provide carers with a practical and simple solution to this challenging issue they face every day.”
“Pobroll® is also prepared to have an open and transparent discussion about the role of restraint in these scenarios, and to demonstrate to carers that there is a kinder alternative to physical ‘safe holding’ techniques which involves gently swaddling and calming the person within the warm folds of the Pobroll®. This allows for indirect, rather than direct touching and is far less invasive or frightening than the hands-on techniques taught to care staff to manage these situations,” explains Pat O’Brien-creator of the Pobroll® and Director of Pobworks Ltd.
The Pobroll® supports carers who are struggling to safely manage ‘behaviours which challenge.’ Where a Liberty Protection Safeguard is in place, the Pobroll® allows a much kinder method of containing and calming patient agitation compared to the standard practices for physical restraint. The Pobroll® is a gentle and comforting option, which calms the distressed person and leads to a reduction in these behaviours, which, in turn, reduces the stress for all concerned and allows for carers to feel much more confident where these challenging behaviours are an issue.
Rather than learn complicated and often physically complex ‘safe holds’ the carers can relax and gently cocoon the person in the Pobroll® with a far less aggressive stance and with kindness. This is a much easier method of containing the person’s movements and is instinctively very quick to learn without the need for staff attendance at training courses or yearly updates.
The story behind Pobroll®: Spotting a gap in the market and promoting sustainability
Pobroll®’s creator: Pat O’Brien spent many years working as a physiotherapist in residential and nursing homes and saw first-hand how the culture of continence care left individuals cold and waiting on wet towels before being rushed to get dressed. Pat initially searched for a solution on the market but to her surprise found there wasn’t any.
Like all great innovations, Pobroll® came about because one person wanted to make a difference. Though the care industry has normalised ‘wet-wipe washing’ in the place of a thorough wash, Pat wanted to challenge this head-on through an innovative new design.
When the prototype was ready, it was trialled successfully in nursing/care homes and private residencies and received overwhelmingly positive feedback and resulted in a UK patent for large scale manufacturing.
“In 2020, the Pobroll® was nominated for the ‘Outstanding Care Awards for Devon and Cornwall’ – demonstrating its impact on the care industry and recognition by expert insiders. Furthermore, the product was selected for the coveted Society Accelerator Programme run by the Alzheimer’s Society and has since been given the ‘green light’ by the charity for supporting dementia sufferers and their carers.’”
“The Pobroll® is made of 100% terry cotton combined with a phthalate – free lamination and has a very small carbon footprint. The fabric is sourced in Italy, and the Pobroll® itself is manufactured locally in Cornwall by a small family business. It has been made to last, and so far, testing over a five-year period has demonstrated no reduction in efficacy. The use of the Pobroll® for bed bathing avoids the use of disposable wet-wipes by ensuring the bed stays dry despite a copious amount of water being used to ensure high standards of hygiene. It can be used generically across a spectrum of different clients and stands out as a more sustainable product compared to the current trend for products to be ‘single patient use’ which is not cost effective or good for the environment,” adds Pat.
Looking ahead to the future
Pat’s vision for the Pobroll® is for it to become synonymous with clinical excellence and be accepted as a core part of clinical protocol across all care and nursing settings from long-term care settings, acute hospital settings, end of life services to supported living services and more.
“It is a game-changer for home care, allowing families to undertake intimate care tasks gently without upsetting or traumatising their loved ones, thereby reducing anxiety for all involved. The Pobroll® has enabled people to remain in their own homes for end-of-life care, where a care home admission had seemed inevitable.”
“I am in the process of developing a product to help assist patients with limited mobility to use a commode where they are unable to take steps away for the bed. I am also developing a product which assists people to put on TED stockings.”
For more information on how the Pobroll® can support loved ones and residents in a range of care settings, please see the website below: www.pobroll.co.uk