The Efficacy of a Viscoelastic Foam Overlay on Prevention of Pressure Injury in Acutely Ill Patients

Abstract

Patients managed with a VEFO had a significantly lower incidence of PI than those managed with a standard hospital mattress. Additional research is needed to further characterize the efficacy of the VEFO, its effect on PI healing, and its effect of PI prevention in high-risk populations such as critically ill patients.

A Comparative Study Between Two Support Surfaces for Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Healing in ICU Patients

“…For example, Park and Park [17] in their prospective randomized controlled trial compared a viscoelastic foam overlay (VEFO) with a standard hospital mattress for PU prevention. Their studied sample consisted of 110 participants (55 in each group) hospitalized in an ICU of a medical center in South Korea.…”

Predicting the cut‐off point for interface pressure in pressure injury according to the standard hospital mattress and polyurethane foam mattress as support surfaces

“…IP refers to the pressure at the point where the body touches the supporting surface. 15 It was measured using a pressure scanner (Palm Q CR-490; CAPE CO., LTD, Yokisuka-shi, Japan), an airbag-pressure pad with five sensors and a wider area (130 Â 130 mm). The scanner was applied at the contact point between the supporting surface and the prominent bony area of the patient.…”

Viscoelastic Polyurethane Foam with Keratin and Flame-Retardant Additives

“…The carbonyl absorption bands were deconvoluted into component bands. Peak areas of these bands were measured, the contribution of urea (U 1 ) group calculated using Equation (1), and the content of urethane (U 2 ) group calculated using Equation (2).…”

“…Currently, these foams are often used to manufacture: Mattresses and pillows that provide comfort for their users during sleep, elements supporting the treatment process used in medicine, or many vibration damping elements used in the automotive industry [ 1 ]. Viscoelastic foams reduce the possibility of bedsore formation in long-term patients, which makes they are used in the care of the elderly [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. The research results of these foams indicate the possibility of extending the direction of their applications, but due to the main directions of their application in the automotive industry and in medicine, including long-term care, their high resistance to fire is required [ 6 ].…”