Effectiveness assessment of a self-developed facial anti-crush protection component in protection of facial pressure ulcers of medical staff

  Objective  A protective component that can prevent facial crush injury was designed, to prevent the occurrence of device related pressure injury(DRPI) in noses and faces of medical staff, and furthermore improve the protection quality of medical staff.

  Methods  The face crush protection component was composed of goggle protection component for protecting the skin around both eyes, cheek protection component for protecting cheek skin and ear root protection component for protecting ear root skin. The protective component was used by the Shanghai medical team members performing the medical mission of assisting Hubei in Wuhan during the outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia. The effectiveness was observed among 83 medical personnel, compared with 95 staff who used only medical goggles, medical masks and/or other protective articles. The facial skin condition after one shift was examined and the differences of DRPI between these two groups of medical staff were compared.

  Results  After one shift, the incidence of DRPI in the reference group was 63.16%(60/95), of whom 57 cases were suffering with stage Ⅰ pressure ulcer and 3 cases with stage Ⅱ pressure ulcer; The incidence of DRPI in the experimental group was 20.48%(17/83), all of whom were suffering with stage Ⅰ pressure ulcers. There was significant difference in the incidence of DRPI between the two groups (P < 0.01).

  Conclusion  The self-developed facial crush protection component can effectively prevent the occurrence of DRPI of medical staff, which is worthy of clinical application.