The Effect of Offloading Heels on Sacral Pressure

Offloading a patient ’s heels during supine surgical procedures is a common practice to prevent heel pressure injuries. This practice may increase sacral pressure and jeopardize sacral skin integrity, but prophylactic dressings may help protect sacral skin. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of off loading the heels and of multilayered silicone foam dressings on sacral pressure. We measured the sacral pressure of 50 healthy volunteers using a pressure-mapping system under four conditions: heels not offloaded and sacral dressing applied, heels offloaded and dressing applied, heels not offloaded and no dressing, and heels offloaded and no dressing.

Source: AORN Journal - August 31, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Sadeeka Al-Majid, Barbara Vuncanon, Nika Carlson, Cyril Rakovski Tags: Featured article Source Type: research