Members of the mattress conversion project’s “Dream Team”

Over the course of a week in December, the Brigham replaced nearly 800 mattresses in patient care areas throughout the hospital. The logistically complex project was completed not only with minimal disruption to patient care, but also two and a half days ahead of schedule, thanks to the dedication of a multidisciplinary team representing many departments, including clinical and non-clinical staff.

Prior to distributing the mattresses throughout the Brigham, a large team, including the hospital’s pressure injury taskforce, assembled to research and trial different mattresses over the summer. The six-month-long project culminated with the deployment of the mattresses in December.

In addition to enhancing patient satisfaction and comfort, the mattresses, manufactured by Sizewise, will be an important factor in achieving the Brigham’s goal of reducing hospital-acquired pressure injuries, also known as bed sores, which can occur in patients who lie in bed or sit in chairs for long periods without moving.

The mattress conversion team, now known as the “Dream Team,” visited patient floors and swapped out the prior mattresses with the new product—all while working efficiently to minimize disruption for patients and their families. The team comprised approximately 75 people from more than a dozen departments. Sizewise was also a collaborator and recycled the prior mattresses at the end of the week.

Deploying nearly 800 mattresses in busy patient care areas can seem like a daunting task, but the team came together to make it happen—all while ensuring that safety of the patients and staff remained a top priority. Throughout the deployment period, the Brigham’s Patient Safety and Risk management team tracked the safety of patients and staff who were involved in the project and reported there were no safety events noted.

Witnessing the Dream Team complete the conversion earlier than expected was a very proud moment for Kerrie-Ann Jack of Biomedical Engineering, who helped oversee the project.

“It was absolutely phenomenal to see how well everyone worked together to make this happen,” Jack said. “On day one of the mattress rollout, I remember seeing the team come together and hearing someone say, ‘Let’s make this happen.’ And that’s exactly what we did.”

The Brigham ordered 855 mattresses from Sizewise in total. The 64 new mattresses that weren’t part of the conversion will be stored and remain available as spares.

In an email to Dream Team members, Sunny Eappen, MD, MBA, chief medical officer; Maddy Pearson, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services; and Julia Sinclair, MBA, senior vice president of Inpatient and Clinical Services, expressed their deepest gratitude to the staff for their accomplishment.

They wrote: “Thank you, from the bottoms of our hearts, for your outstanding contributions to this project and helping us deliver the highest-quality care and an exceptional experience to the patients and families we serve.”