Pressure Ulcers are a serious and common problem for residents admitted to long-term care facilities and community care patients. They represent a major burden to patients, carers and the Healthcare system, affecting approximately 1 in 20 community patients. International guidelines recommend the use of pressure redistribution support surfaces, systematic patient repositioning and preventive skin care to prevent pressure ulcers. It has been acknowledged that a significant proportion of pressure ulcers are avoidable. The prevalence of pressure ulcers is 1 of the 4 common harms recorded in the UK NHS Safety Thermometer, a local improvement tool for measuring, monitoring and analyzing patient harms across a range of settings, including nursing homes, community nursing and hospitals on a monthly basis.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
40
mattress in bed The presence of PUs will be evaluated using the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP) classification system (NPUAP, 2014) and the presence of incontinence- associated dermatitis (IAD) will be categorized using the Ghent Global IAD Categorisation Tool (GLOBIAD). For each participant, the Patient Repositioning Tool Ghent (PROTECT) will be used to individually recommend the frequency of skin observations and the frequency of repositioning.
mattress in bed The presence of PUs will be evaluated using the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP) classification system (NPUAP, 2014) and the presence of incontinence- associated dermatitis (IAD) will be categorized using the Ghent Global IAD Categorisation Tool (GLOBIAD). For each participant, the Patient Repositioning Tool Ghent (PROTECT) will be used to individually recommend the frequency of skin observations and the frequency of repositioning. In the group of participants with a PU category III or IV, the Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing Tool (PUSH) will be used to assess and measure change in PU status. The score on the PUSH-tool is defined by the surface area of the PU (length x width), the amount of exudate and the type of tissue in the wound bed.
WZC Hof ter Waarbeek
Asse, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
Pressure ulcer incidence
Development of at least 1 Pressure ulcer category II+ during study period using European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP) classification system
Time frame: 30 days
Pressure ulcer healing
Healing of pressure ulcers category III and IV during the 30-day study period - using the Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing Tool (PUSH)
Time frame: 30 days
Comfort
perceived comfort and experiences of users of the mattress - using self-developed questionnaire
Time frame: 30 days
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