2001 Volume 4 Issue 3 Pages 80-86
Objectives: Targeting 17 healthy male and female college students, the study was intended to measure changes in their safety and comfort resulting from changes in physical position. It compared the differences between subjects whose positions were changed by an automated device, (the automated group) and those whose positions were manually changed (the manual group).
Results: The systolic blood pressure of both men and women in the manual group decreased more than those the automated group when changing from recumbent to lateral position. While there was little difference in pulse rate between men in the automated and manual groups, women in the manual group showed a significant decrease in pulse rate when their position changed from recumbent to lateral. In addition, the study found that the pulmonary capacity of men and women in both groups decreased more when they moved from the recumbent position to either the left or right lateral position, than when they changed to the standing position. It was especially remarkable that the pulmonary capacity of women in the automated group decreased when they moved from the recumbent to the left or right lateral position. The automated group reported more valid symptoms than the manual group. ln terms of comfort, the manual group reported better results. However, on the safety side, the manual group showed a greater effect on circulatory system than the automated group. This demonstrates the importance of observation when changing a patients physical position.
