Air-Fluidized Beds or Conventional Therapy for Pressure Sores

doi:10.1059/0003-4819-107-5-641

Air-Fluidized Beds or Conventional Therapy for Pressure Sores

A Randomized Trial

RICHARD M. ALLMAN, M.D.;
JOANNE M. WALKER, R.N., M.S.E.T.;
MARY K. HART, R.N., B.S.N.;
CAROL A. LAPRADE, R.N., M.B.A., M.S.;
LINDA B. NOEL, R.N., M.S.N.; and
CRAIG R. SMITH, M.D.

Baltimore, Maryland

Excerpt

Study Objective: To compare the effectiveness and adverse effects of air-fluidized beds and conventional therapy for patients with pressure sores.

Design: Randomized trial with both masked and unmasked comparisons of outcome after a median follow-up of 13 days (range, 4 to 77 days).

Setting: Urban, academic referral, and primary care medical center.

Patients: Of 140 potentially eligible hospitalized patients with pressure sores, 72 consented to randomization; 65 (90%) completed the study.

Interventions: Thirty-one patients on air-fluidized beds (Clinitron Therapy, Support Systems International, Inc., Charleston, South Carolina) repositioned every 4 hours from 0700h to 2300h without use of other antipressure devices.

Acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The authors thank Ms. Eileen Snyder, Ms. Dianne Jarvis, Ms. Grace McNamara, and Ms. Mary Short for technical assistance and manuscript preparation; Ms. Jeanne Keruly for assistance with computer analysis and data management; Ms. Catherine Moorer for assistance with data collection; Dr. Craig Dufresne for independent review of the photographs obtained during the study; Ms. Helen Mullan for coordinating calorie and protein intakes; Drs. David Levine, Teri Manolio, and Albert Oberman for their reviews of previous drafts of the manuscript; and the Johns Hopkins Hospital attending physicians, house staff, nurses, dieticians and other support personnel.

Article and Author Information

▸From the Departments of Medicine and Medical Nursing and Surgical Nursing, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions; Baltimore, Maryland.
Grant support: in part by Support Systems International, Inc. Air mattresses and foam pads provided by American Pharmaceal Company. Dr. Allman was a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Fellow in General Internal Medicine when the study was planned. Dr. Smith is a Burroughs-Wellcome Scholar in Pharmacoepidemiology.
▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to Richard M. Allman, M.D.; University of Alabama at Birmingham, Division of General and Preventive Medicine, Room 611 Medical Education Facility, University Station; Birmingham, AL 35294.