For over twelve years, a Unit Director of Wound Care in the Greater Atlanta Area has chosen Primo as her trusted wound care management provider. She has chosen Primo:
“Because it works. Primo listens to feedback. If it’s not working, Primo makes it work.
Primo has supported us as much as our organization will allow. Primo is there for every educational event to help educate on the proper use of their products and they work with us to make sure we are all teaching exactly the same thing so there is no confusion.”
She went on to say, “Prevention – to me, you need to pay more money for prevention than you do for treatments…When you are looking at pressure injury prevention there are two main problems: your sacrum and your heels.
“When we first started using PRIMOBoots we had to justify their cost. Then I would have patients that needed PRIMOBoots but didn’t get them because our system made it too complicated for our patients to get the boots… Now we use the Braden. If they are 18 or less, they get a Glide & Guide Turn Sheet and they get a PRIMOBoot.”
Q: What was your facility using to reposition patients and offload the sacrum before Primo’s Glide & Guide Turn System?
“We were using draw sheets, trying to make the draw sheets go from the shoulders to the knees, which was the same concept as the Glide & Guide but Primo’s sheet slides easier. It’s breathable and it’s washable.
If you are having to struggle to move the patient and the patient’s skin gets sheared at the same time, then the nurse’s back is getting sheared, muscles are getting sheared because they are fighting gravity as well. The Glide & Guide makes it easier to move the patient and makes it easier for the caretaker as well.”
Q: Upon implementing the Glide & Guide Turn System, were there improvements in positive patient outcomes?
“We did a miniature performance improvement project where we focused on two units that had the most opportunity to improve moisture associated skin damage (MASD) … it’s not just the moisture part of it. When you are moving the patients and you are shearing them and then they are wet, it predisposes them for lots of breakdown. What we are trying to do is see if Primo’s turn sheet made a difference… The units’ MASD rates went from sky-high to almost nothing when we focused on it, and our only intervention was Primo’s sheet.”
Q: Has the Glide & Guide Turn System been beneficial for staff since it was implemented?
“I don’t keep up with work injury reports, but I can tell you that I don’t hear about the shoulder injuries that I used to hear about or back injuries as much.”
Q: Your facility has been using PRIMOBoot to offload the heels and help prevent pressure injuries for years, what was the facility using before PRIMOBoot?
“Every kind of thing… we had lots of little heel boots that just reduce the pressure, not offloading, and so we saw the need for it. We looked at the market, at several boots, and none had impressed us that were really going to offload the heel until we tried the PRIMOBoot. Then we had a trial for the PRIMOBoot, went with it, and have been with it ever since.”
Q: What made PRIMOBoot stand out against the other boots on the market that did not impress you?
“Because it’s soft enough. I’ve never had pressure on top of the foot from it even though you put it on really tight, and if the heel is put in there correctly, it stays… The secret is to put the heel in the hole, in the correct position, and pull it tight and secure it, and the patient can’t move their foot out of there.”
Q: Why do you feel PRIMOBoot is better than other offloading heel boots on the market?
“PRIMOBoot offloads the heel better than any other boot on the market… I think some companies make things so flimsy because they were afraid of causing injuries at the top of the foot. They made it so flimsy that it is easy to move your heel out of the opening. If your heel is out of position, it is no longer effective.
If the heels are supposed to be suspended and they don’t suspend everybody’s heels then what good is the product? And if the sheets don’t make it decrease the shearing and make it easier to move the patients then, again, what good is it for reducing pressure?”
Q: Have the PRIMOBoot and Glide & Guide Turn System made it easy for the caretaker to prevent injuries?
“PRIMOBoot has protected patients, for sure, and it’s made it easier for the nurses to protect the heels. They don’t have to constantly try to reposition and redo because once they are in the boot, all they have to do is check to see if the heel is in the hole and they are good… and then the turn sheet has definitely helped both because the sheet helps reduce work injuries to the back and shoulders and helps reduce shearing to the patient’s skin.
The two biggest things you want to do is prevent injuries for both the caretaker and the patient and to make it easy to do.”
Q: Why do you recommend Primo products to other providers?
“It works. It works. That’s the thing. It does work. You have to educate but there is minimal education. Once you get people into the habit of doing it, they love Primo themselves. It’s just you have to create those habits, and you have to stay with it, but it works when it’s used.”
Primo specializes in preventive wound care management. Connect with a Primo representative today to find the Primo solution that works for you.
