[A comparison of the efficacy of different wound dressing management techniques in preventing pressure ulcers].
BACKGROUND
Although high-technology wound dressings are widely used in clinical care worldwide, no evidence or discussions have been published regarding the efficacy of these dressings in preventing pressure ulcers.


OBJECTIVE
This study presents a repositioning of routine management combined with hydrocolloid dressing or foam dressing for pressure ulcer prevention.


METHODS
We used a quasi-experimental design and recruited a convenience sample of 90 from a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) at a medical center in Hualien County, Taiwan. Participants were allocated randomly to one of three groups: repositioning of routine management, hydrocolloid dressing, and foam dressing. Study instruments included a pressure ulcer risk table (Braden scale) and the pressure ulcer classification system of the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel. An independent sample t-test, ANOVA, and Mann-Whitney U test were used to verify research hypotheses.


RESULTS
The repositioning of routine management group had the highest pressure ulcer incidence rate, followed by the hydrocolloid-dressing group. The foam-dressing group recorded no pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcer occurrence grades were primarily level 1 and 2. There was no significance difference in pressure ulcer occurrence time between the repositioning of routine-management group and the hydrocolloid-dressing group. Finally, there were significant differences (p < .05) among gender, hypertension history, and BMI regardless of pressure ulcer incidences.


CONCLUSIONS
It is recommended that patients in high-risk groups in clinical settings adopt strategies including repositioning and regular visual skin examinations. Also, hydrocolloid or foam dressings may be used as appropriate to prevent sacral pressure ulcers.
Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan, ROC. fish@mail.tcu.edu.tw.
Wen-Yi
WY
Tsao
Shu-Fen
SF
Lo
Tomor
T
Harmod
Ru-Ping
RP
Lee
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D047070:Bandages, Hydrocolloid; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009779:Occlusive Dressings; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*
foam dressing; hydrocolloid dressing; intensive care unit; pressure ulcer; prevention