Healthcare provider and patient/family perceptions of continuous pressure imaging technology for prevention of pressure injuries: A secondary analysis of patients enrolled in a randomized control trial

Wrechelle Ocampo; Darlene Y Sola; Barry W Baylis; John M Conly; David B Hogan; Jaime Kaufman; Linet Kiplagat; Henry T Stelfox; William A Ghali; Chester Ho

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0278019

Healthcare provider and patient/family perceptions of continuous pressure imaging technology for prevention of pressure injuries: A secondary analysis of patients enrolled in a randomized control trial

PLoS One. 2022 Nov 29;17(11):e0278019. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278019. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Wrechelle Ocampo¹, Darlene Y Sola¹, Barry W Baylis^{1

2

3}, John M Conly^{1

2

3

4}, David B Hogan^{1

2}, Jaime Kaufman¹, Linet Kiplagat¹, Henry T Stelfox^{1

2

3

5}, William A Ghali^{1

2

3}, Chester Ho^{1

2

3

6}

Affiliations

¹ W21C, O'Brien Institute for Public Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
² Department of Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
³ Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁴ Synder Institute for Chronic Diseases, Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁵ Departments of Critical Care Medicine and Community Health Sciences, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁶ Division of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.

Abstract

Introduction: Despite the availability of various pressure injury (PI) prevention strategies (e.g., risk identification, use of pressure re-distribution surfaces, frequent repositioning), they persist as a significant issue for healthcare systems worldwide. Continuous pressure imaging (CPI) is a novel technology that could be integrated within a comprehensive approach to the prevention of PIs. We studied the perceptions of healthcare providers and patients/families to identify facilitators and barriers to the use of this technology.

Methods: Hospitalized patients/family members from a randomized controlled trial assessing the efficacy of CPI in preventing PIs completed a survey after 72 hours (or upon discharge from hospital) of CPI monitoring. They were asked questions about prior and current experience with CPI technology. For healthcare providers, perceptions on the use of the device and its impact on care were explored through a survey distributed by email or hard copies.

Results: A total of 125 healthcare providers and 525 patients/family members completed the surveys. Of the healthcare providers, 95% either agreed/strongly agreed that the CPI technology was easy to use and 65% stated that the device improved how they provided pressure relief for patients. Identified issues with the device were cost, the fitting of the mattress cover, and the fixation of the patients/families on the device. Over a quarter of the patient/family respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the device influenced how pressure relief was provided. This response was statistically associated with whether the monitor was turned on (intervention arm; 52.7%) or off (control arm; 4.2%).

Discussion and conclusion: CPI technology was positively perceived by healthcare providers. Most patients/families felt it influenced care when the CPI monitor was turned on. Concerns raised around cost and the ease of use of these devices by healthcare providers may affect the decisions of healthcare system administrators to adopt and implement this technology.

Copyright: © 2022 Ocampo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Crush Injuries*
Electronic Mail
Family
Health Personnel*
Humans
Pressure Ulcer*
Technology

Grants and funding

The study is funded by Alberta Innovates Health Solutions’ Collaborative Research and Innovation Opportunities grant. The grant has been awarded to WG, JC, and TS under grant number 201201137. The funders were only involved in approval of the study design. They were not involved in development of the study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Information on the funder can be found at https://albertainnovates.ca/what-we-offer/funding-grants/.