Enhanced Skin Assessment Methodology to Detect Early Tissue Damage and Prevent Pressure Injuries

PURPOSE:The purpose of this study was to evaluate a skin assessment technique, subepidermal moisture (SEM) assessment, to assess, identify, and prevent pressure injuries (PIs) in critically ill adults. DESIGN:This was a retrospective, descriptive, comparative research study. SUBJECTS AND SETTING:The sample comprised 69 critically ill adults; their mean age was 58.8 years (SD 18.1 years). The majority were male (n = 40, 58%), 29 (42%) were African American (AA), and 36 (52%) were White. The study setting was a surgical trauma intensive care unit (STICU) in a southern US Gulf Coast academic level I trauma hospital. Data were collected from September to November 2021. METHODS:We conducted a retrospective medical record review of subjects who had undergone SEM assessment. We also collected demographic and pertinent clinical information, including Braden Scale cumulative scores and subscale scores, documented PI prevention interventions, and PI occurrence and characteristics if developed within 7 days of SEM measurement. We also evaluated whether PI prevention interventions were appropriate. To examine nurse perception of the SEM device, we conducted a web-based survey of nurses providing care in our facility's STICU. Comparison of responses was done using Fisher's test or Chi-square test, and the mean responses from groups were compared using t test. RESULTS:Thirty-five (57%) subjects had a sacral SEM delta >= 0.6; 14 (40%) were AA; 20 (57%) were White; and 11 (31%) had a hospital-acquired PI (HAPI) or present-on-admission (POA) PI. Among the 14 HAPI and POA PI subjects with sacral SEM delta, 11 (79%) had sacral SEM delta >= 0.6. Among 26 AA subjects with sacral SEM delta, 5 had a HAPI or POA PI, and of those, 4 (80%) had sacral SEM delta >= 0.6. A significant and negative correlation was observed between cumulative Braden Scale scores on day 2 and sacral SEM delta (r = -0.28, P = .03) and R heel delta (r = -0.29, P = .03) scores, indicating higher PI risk. Of the 35 patients with a sacral SEM delta >= 0.6, 24 (69%) subjects did not have appropriate PI prevention interventions. Nurses (n = 13) indicated that the SEM device was easy to use and helped them perform an accurate skin assessment on patients with darker skin tones. CONCLUSIONS:This study demonstrates that SEM technology is beneficial to address racial disparities in skin assessment, enhance skin assessment accuracy beyond existing PI care, improve the accuracy of risk assessment, and promote appropriate location-specific PI prevention interventions.