Models for predicting skin tears: A comparison

Assessment, prevention and management of skin tears in older people

Skin tears are common injuries that result from mechanical forces. Older people with fragile skin are at greater risk of this type of wound. They are usually categorised as acute wounds that typically heal in 7-21 days but the healing process can be disrupted, leading to chronic, non-healing wounds. They have the potential to compromise quality of life and disrupt daily activities, so it is important to identify risk factors and implement prevention strategies for those at risk. An interdisciplinary approach has a pivotal role in promptly and precisely identifying skin tears, and the use of evidence-based interventions for efficient skin damage management can enhance the recovery process. This article adopts a case study approach to explore the prevention, evaluation and treatment of skin tears, using the case of an individual living with a skin tear in a community setting.

External validation of a predictive model for aged-related skin tears in Fitzpatrick skin types I-IV cohort

Older Australians are at increased risk of skin tears with the risk not always recognised or the injury able to be prevented. This study externally validated Rayner et al. (2019) Skin Tear Risk Prediction Model in an independent aged cohort with a Fitzpatrick skin types I-IV from across multiple residential-care sites, over a 6-month period. A total of 362 individuals aged between 65 and 102.5 years completed the study. In all, 165-residents sustained one or more skin tears. Logistic regression analysis was conducted of the five variables (gender, previous history of skin tears, previous history of falls, purpura and solar elastosis) identified in the skin tear model. The skin tear model provided 'good' to nearly 'very good discrimination' for correctly classifying residents at-risk or not-at-risk (area under the curve of 0.799 [95% confidence interval, CI: 0.75-0.84]). The skin tear model correctly predicted 75.8% (sensitivity) of participants with skin tears and 71.6% (specificity) of residents without skin tears. The model demonstrated it could work as a screening tool to identify older individuals at risk of skin tears and would benefit clinical practice as it was easy to use, was reproducible, and had good accuracy across aged-care residents with a Fitzpatrick skin type I-IV.

Healing rate of hospital-acquired skin tears using adhesive silicone foam versus meshed silicone interface dressings: A prospective, randomized, non-inferiority pilot study

BACKGROUND

A skin tear is a traumatic wound that occurs in up to one in five hospitalized patients. Nursing care includes application of a dressing to create a moist wound healing environment.

AIM

To compare the effectiveness of two standard dressings (adhesive silicone foam vs. meshed silicone interface) to heal hospital-acquired skin tear.

METHODS

An intention-to-treat pilot study was designed using a randomized, non-inferiority trial in an Australian tertiary hospital setting. Consenting participants (n = 52) had acquired a skin tear within the previous 24 h and had agreed to a 3-week follow-up. Data were collected between 2014 and 2020. The primary outcome measure was wound healing at 21 days.

RESULTS

Baseline characteristics were similar in both arms. Per protocol, 86% of skin tears were fully healed at 3 weeks in the adhesive silicone foam group, compared to 59% in the meshed silicone interface group. Greater healing was observed across all skin tear categories in the adhesive silicone foam dressing group. In the intention-to-treat sample, healing was 69% and 42%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest the adhesive silicone foam dressing may be superior, as it produced clinically significant healing of skin tears at 3 weeks compared to the meshed silicone interface dressing. Accounting for potential loss to follow-up, a sample of at least 103 participants per arm would be required to power a definitive study.

Skin tear prevalence in an Australian acute care hospital: A 10-year analysis

Hospital-acquired skin tear prevalence is under-reported; thus, the aim of this study was to analyse skin tear point prevalence and characteristics in a tertiary acute care hospital in Queensland, Australia, over a 10-year period. All consenting adult inpatients received a full skin inspection and skin tear category, site, cause, treatment, and whether it was documented as hospital- or community-acquired were recorded. Eleven prevalence audits were analysed with a total sample of 3626 patients. An overall pooled prevalence of 8.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.5-10.4) with an associated hospital-acquired pooled prevalence of 5.5% (95% CI 4.5-6.7) was found. In total, 616 skin tears were reported, of which 374 (60.7%) were hospital-acquired. Over a third of patients (38.7%) had multiple skin tears and most patients (84.8%) with at least one skin tear were aged ≥70 years. The largest proportion of skin tears (40.1%) was those with no skin flap. Of those documented, most were caused by falls or collisions, suggesting combined skin tear and falls prevention strategies may be effective. Over a decade, there was a downward trend in hospital-acquired skin tear, which is encouraging. Skin tear prevalence is recommended as a measure of care quality with an emphasis on good quality documentation.

Risk scoring tool for forearm skin tears in Japanese older adults: A prospective cohort study

[Aim] Because painful skin tears frequently occur in older patients, the prevention of skin tears is fundamental to improve their quality of life. However, a risk assessment tool for skin tears has not been established yet in Japan. Therefore, we aimed to propose a risk scoring tool for skin tears in Japanese older adult. [Methods] We conducted a prospective cohort study with 6-month follow-up in two long-term care hospitals in Japan. A total of 257 inpatients were recruited. Patient and skin characteristics were collected at baseline, and the occurrence of forearm skin tears were examined during follow-up. To develop a risk scoring tool, we identified risk factors, and converted their coefficients estimated in the multiple logistic regression analysis into simplified scores. The predictive accuracy of the total score was evaluated. [Results] Of 244 participants, 29 developed forearm skin tears during the follow-up period, a cumulative incidence of 13.5%. Senile purpura, pseudoscar, contracture, and dry skin were identified as risk factors for skin tears. Their weighted scores were 6, 4, 5, and 6, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the total score was 0.806. At a cut-off score of 12, the sensitivity was 0.86, and the specificity was 0.67. [Conclusion] Our forearm skin tear risk scoring tool showed high accuracy, whereas specificity was low. This tool can contribute to prevent forearm skin tears in Japanese older adults.

Development of educational material for the prevention and treatment of friction injuries

Objective: to develop and validate an educational booklet to help health professionals to prevent and treat friction injuries. Method: methodological study. An integrative review of the literature of journals published between 2009 and 2019 was carried out in the main databases of Health Sciences. The evaluation of the educational booklet was conducted with 32 nurses, using the Delphi technique. The statistical analysis used was the Content Validity Index. Results: the judges considered the content of the educational booklet between the concepts “inadequate” and “adequate”, in the first assessment; after the corrections requested by the judges, the booklet was forwarded to the evaluators and the content of the educational booklet was rated between “adequate” and “totally adequate”. The overall Content Validity Index was 0.8118 in the first assessment and 1.0 in the second assessment. Conclusion: after the integrative literature review, the material was constructed and validated by professionals with experience in evaluating and treating individuals with wounds, obtaining consensus among the evaluators in the second evaluation.

Desenvolvimento de um material educativo para a prevenção e o tratamento das lesões por fricção

Objetivo: desenvolver e validar uma cartilha educativa para ajudar o profissional da saúde a prevenir e tratar da lesão por fricção. Método: estudo metodológico. Foi realizada revisão integrativa da literatura dos periódicos publicados entre 2009 e 2019 nas principais bases de dados de Ciências da Saúde. A avaliação da cartilha educativa foi conduzida com 32 enfermeiros, utilizando a técnica de Delphi. A análise estatística utilizada foi o Índice de Validade de Conteúdo. Resultados: os juízes consideraram o conteúdo da cartilha educativa entre os conceitos “inadequado” e “adequado”, na primeira avaliação; após as correções solicitadas pelos juízes, a cartilha foi reenviada aos avaliadores e o conteúdo da cartilha educativa foi avaliado entre “adequado” e “totalmente adequado”. O Índice de Validade de Conteúdo geral foi de 0,8118 na primeira avaliação e 1,0 na segunda avaliação. Conclusão: após a revisão integrativa da literatura, o material foi construído e validado por profissionais com experiência em avaliar e tratar de indivíduos com feridas, obtendo consenso entre os avaliadores na segunda avaliação.

Models for predicting skin tears: A comparison

A recently published model that predicted the risk of skin tears in older adults was compared with seven additional published models. Four models were excluded because of limitations in research design. Four models were compared for their relative predictive performance and accuracy using sensitivity, specificity, and the area under the curve (AUC), which involved using receiver-operating characteristic analysis. The predictive ability of the skin tear models differed with the AUC ranging between 0.673 and 0.854. Based on the predictive ability, the selection of models could lead to different clinical decisions and health outcomes. The model, which had been adjusted for potential confounders consisted of five variables (male gender, history of skin tears, history of falls, clinical skin manifestations of elastosis, and purpura), was found to be the most parsimonious for predicting skin tears in older adults (AUC 0.854; 81.7% sensitivity; 81.4% specificity). Effective models serve as important clinical tools for identifying older individuals at risk of skin tears and can better direct more timely and targeted prevention strategies that improve health outcomes and reduce health care expenditure.