• Wen-Yi Tsao, Shu-Fen Lo, Tomor Harmod, and Ru-Ping Lee.
• Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan, ROC. fish@mail.tcu.edu.tw.
• Hu Li Za Zhi. 2013 Aug 1; 60 (4): 65-75.

BackgroundAlthough 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.PurposeThis study presents a repositioning of routine management combined with hydrocolloid dressing or foam dressing for pressure ulcer prevention.MethodsWe 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.ResultsThe 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.ConclusionsIt 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.

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