HOW OFTEN SHOULD A PATIENT BE REPOSITIONED IN A CHAIR?

At Seating Matters, a commonly asked question we are approached with is, how often should I reposition my patient?

We tend to follow the NICE guidelines and advise that repositioning should occur every 2 hours. Each patient would need 45 degree tilt thumbnail.pngan individual seating  assessment and depending on their mobility and skin integrity, repositioning may increase or decrease. It is worth noting that for those with no mobility, simply placing the tilt right back to the greatest degree for about five minutes can be enough to reoxygenate the tissue. From there the patient can be tilted back up in to a more functional position.
 To help give others practical seating advice, we have developed The Four Principles of Pressure Management in Seating – each principle is equally important. I go further into detail on The Four Principles of Pressure Management in my clinical reference guide, The Clinician’s Seating Handbook.

Repositioning is one of the principles but cannot be advised on as a standalone guideline, each of the four principles must be addressed in order to achieve optimum pressure management in seating.

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** This post was originally published on http://blog.seatingmatters.com/how-often-should-a-patient-be-repositioned-in-a-chair

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