Effect of transparent film usage on preventing pressure ulcers on patients who are treated with noninvasive mechanical ventilation

The research is planned as an experimental study in order to assess the effect of transparent films on patients who are treated with noninvasive mechanic ventilation, with pretest and posttest and repetitive measurements. The research is executed between December 2014 and October 2015 at the second base intensive care unit of pulmonology. Of the 46 patients meeting the inclision criteria and accepting to participate in the study were divided into two groups: intervention group (n=25) and control group (n=21). Written consents from the ethical committee, the institution and the patients themselves are taken. The data from the research are gathered using "Individual Identification Form" (APPENDIX-I), "NIMV Parameters Observation Form" (APPENDIX-II), "Braden Risk Assessment Scale" (APPENDIX-III) and "Pressure Ulcer Phasing Form" (APPENDIX-V). A transparent film has been applied on every patient in the intervention group, on a nasal bridge of 4.4 cm * 4.4 cm. Before the execution of the experiment, the purpose of the experiment is explained to the patient and the Individual Identification Form, NIMV Parameters Observation Form, Braden Risk Assessment Scale and Pressure Ulcer Phasing Form are filled by the researcher. The experiment is stopped with the patients who develop 1st stage pressure ulcer. The analysis of the collected data within the experiment is performed with the software SPSS version 16.0 (Statistical Package for Social Science for Windows). It is found that the patients in the intervention group are slower at developing a pressure ulcer, compared with the patients in the control group and that this difference is statistically significant (p<0.05). As a result, it is stated that upon using transparent films, it takes a longer time to develop a pressure ulcer in the nasal area for the patients that use NIMV.