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4noPressure: the smart pyjama redefining comfort and medical care
With the aim of improving the quality of life for bedridden or mobility-restricted patients in hospital and home environments, the 4noPressure project brought together leading organizations and institutions in order to empower the future of health textiles in response to critical challenges faced by these patients, such as pressure injuries and associated infections.
The IMPETUS Group led the consortium, which included the University of Minho, represented by Fibrenamics, the Textile Science and Technology Center (2C2T), the Physics Department, the Biological Engineering Center (CEB), the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), and the Nursing School of Coimbra (ESEnfC).
As part of the Smart Health Textiles typology, the pyjama developed by the project aimed to achieve four essential objectives: reducing the occurrence of pressure injuries through prevention and therapeutic action, preventing associated infections, enabling the monitoring of high-risk patients prone to these injuries, and generally improving their quality of life.
Image - Project 4noPressure
The pyjama features an innovative structural and design system that provides superior clinical care. This system prevents the development of pressure ulcers through fibrous structures with thermoregulatory and antimicrobial properties while monitoring pressure distribution, body temperature variation and humidity through sensors integrated directly into these fibrous structures.
Luísa Arruda, researcher at Fibrenamics, emphasized the importance of the project, describing it "as a mission of great relevance to the well-being of a considerable portion of the population. The harmonious collaboration between all the partners played a vital role in the success of the project, demonstrating the collaborative potential of science and business to generate real and significant social impact," adding "the importance of projects based on the innovative capacity of fibrous materials to create solutions aimed at people's health and well-being."
In this regard, INL researcher Rosana Dias emphasized the “importance of close collaboration between researchers from the various technical and scientific areas involved, and in particular, the contribution of specialists in the area of application, to identify the most relevant challenges and therefore guide research along the path most useful to society". Anabela Salgueiro, researcher at ESEnfC, pointed out that "nurses who take care of people at risk of pressure injuries on a daily basis gave valuable suggestions that made it possible to improve the functional prototype in terms of usability."
This smart pyjama solution combines "a new concept of structural system and design, for greater ergonomic comfort, which responds to the condition of reduced mobility and type of movements of the person and the provision of clinical care", explained the consortium led by IMPETUS Portugal.
4noPressure is another testimony to the transformative and synergistic potential between science and the business sector for the well-being of society, contributing to a future where care for bedridden patients and those with reduced mobility is more effective and humanized.
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