Medical-device-related pressure injury on adults: An integrative review

Abstract

Objective: to identify factors associated with medical-device-related pressure injury. Method: an integrative review of published articles on the subject related to the adult population in the databases of PUBMED, Scopus, MEDLINE, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde, LILACS), Web of Science and Nursing Database (Banco de Dados em Enfermagem, BDENF), between 2013 and 2018. Results: medical-device-related pressure injuries were common in adults, especially in the elderly, due to capillary fragility, among other changes. Other observed factors were length of stay, critically ill patients or those requiring any type of medical device. Numerous medical devices have been associated with skin lesions; among the most frequent were breathing, feeding, and orthopedic devices, tubes, oximeters, neck collars, patches and nasogastric tubes. Conclusion: the first step towards prevention is exploration in terms of identifying the types of injury-causing devices and evidence-based interventions, and disseminating information to the entire multidisciplinary team.