The BodyShield is Unlike Other Bed Covers. Here’s Why!

We’re well aware our bodies carry many different pathogens (both good and bad) and, in fact, many people in the community are unwitting carriers of harmful pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus¹, also known as golden staph.

Regardless of their nature, all pathogens can be easily transferred on to any surface, including clinical equipment, which immediately creates an infection risk for your clients because these surfaces and pieces of equipment are shared!

You think you’re doing everything right for the safety and care of your clients. Day in and day out you take measures to wash your hands, wipe down surfaces and more. However, one of the most common hygiene solutions you’re relying on is letting you down — the bed cover.

Before we set out to develop the BodyShield, we trialled and tested every alternative product type on the market — from towels, to fitted sheets, to paper rolls — and made a list of the pros and cons of each. From there our goal for developing the BodyShield became clear — to enhance the pros and eliminate the cons.

We looked at the following criteria:

• Hygiene
• Cost vs quality
• Comfort
• Storage and access
• Staff efficiency
• Recycling

Here’s what we found.

Hygiene

It may be single use but the paper roll typically tears during treatment. Similarly, towels and bed linen will often move during therapy. In each case large areas of the therapy bed become uncovered and contaminated. Without protecting the entire therapy bed, clients are exposed to germs and bacteria.

Therefore, it was crucial the BodyShield itself provided full coverage of the therapy bed AND stayed in place for the duration of the therapy session. To ensure the latter, we developed our bed hooks — a simple device fitted to each end of a therapy bed for our BodyShields to hook on to.

And although it can be argued that single-use fitted sheets provide full coverage and generally remain in place during therapy, a bacterial filtration efficiency of 21% was returned when tested. The BodyShield presented nearly four times better, with a score of 81%, using the same test.

But we didn’t stop there! With compliance to hand hygiene in healthcare professionals as low as 30% (on occasion), our focus shifted to ensuring the BodyShield could be fitted without manual handling of the areas that make contact with a client. (See Storage and Access below.)

Cost vs Quality

The age-old conundrum… how to make something that’s cost effective without compromising on quality.

There are a number of factors that determine the end price of a product, the cost of labour being one of them. By automating the manufacturing process we were able to reduce labour costs, which in turn meant we could spend more on higher quality fabric, while still achieving a more cost-effective product.

The purchase price of the BodyShield is less than the laundering costs associated with any fabric option and it’s also less expensive than the alternative fitted bed sheets (both single use and disposable).

Client Experience

Paper is rough against the skin and can be quite irritating. Not only that but the sound of rustling certainly doesn’t make for a relaxing experience.

As a service provider, we understand customer experience is the difference between a client returning or looking elsewhere. During market research we had customers compare our BodyShield with the alternatives and 93% preferred the BodyShield for hygiene and comfort, with 56% stating they would even be willing to pay for it.

Storage and Access

While testing the alternatives, we started to wonder where therapists store their clean/unused towels or bed linen or paper rolls. After all, they’d be getting through a lot of them each day.

This is when the team at Purifas had a eureka moment and our BodyShield Dispenser was born — a sturdy piece of equipment that houses a roll of BodyShields, keeping them clean, neatly out of the way but always within arm’s reach. How many alternative products provide these three features simultaneously?

Staff Efficiency

Frontline staff are already overworked and under pressure, and we wanted to help where we could. The BodyShield is so easy to apply that it can be done by the time the alternative product has been brought to the room — allowing frontline staff to do what they do best… care for their clients.

Recycling

Ensuring the BodyShield was recyclable was non-negotiable for Purifas:

• Paper that has any decent bacterial filtration typically includes a plastic polyethylene lining — this makes it non recyclable.
• Single-use fitted bed sheets have elastic sewn into two or four sides — this makes them non recyclable.
• Towels command a huge amount of water and energy to clean daily —a standard washing machine uses anywhere between 60 and 130 litres of water per load. This means they’re not particularly environmentally friendly and, not only that, researchers have found that even hospital grade laundering is insufficient in removing 100% of contaminants from towels.

This just isn’t sustainable.

The BodyShield is made from polypropylene and is 100% recyclable.

Whether it’s in massage, acupuncture, physio, bowen, chiro, osteo or other therapy treatments, one of the industry’s most popular solutions is failing your duty of care, customer experience and the environment.

Launched earlier this year, our BodyShield is setting a new standard in hygiene practice. It’s time to swap to the Purifas BodyShield.

Order your BodyShield online today!

REFERENCES

1. Staph Infections (August 2018) Accessed 1 October 2019 from https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/staph-infections