Pressure Ulcers: Patient Outcomes on a Kinair Bed or EHO Mattress

This study compared the outcome of pressure ulcer development when high-risk patients were placed on either a rented KinAir specialty bed or a purchased EHOB waffle mattress. Additional objectives were to: 1) define the demographic profile of high-risk patients in a military acute-care setting, 2) determine the difference in length of stay in the 2 cohorts and 3) determine the costs related to pressure ulcer development for the two cohorts. In this study, 123 patients were determined to be at high risk for the development of pressure ulcers by the Braden Scale. They were randomly assigned to either of the two pressure-reduction surfaces. Patients were evaluated daily for skin breakdown according to the Shea Staging System, which is based on the degree of skin damage. Twenty patients developed pressure ulcers. Twelve ulcers occurred in the 61 patients assigned to the EHOB group: 1 Stage I and 11 were Stage II. In the KinAir group, 3 Stage I, 3 Stage II and two eschars developed in 62 patients. No pressure ulcers developed in patients with the highest predicted risk (Braden Score 6-8); most (71%) developed in the middle-high-risk group (Braden Score 9-10); 80% of the ulcers developed in the first 14 days hospitalization. No Stage III/IV ulcers (the most severe) developed in any of the patients. Characteristics of patients who developed pressure ulcers were: a history of hypertension, > 60 years of age, and a weight of 160 pounds. The investigators concluded that the EHOB was as clinically efficacious and more cost effective than the KinAir specialty bed for ulcer prevention.

Final report is available on NTRL at: https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/PB2002107655.xhtml