The Effect of Massage in Preventing Pressure Wound Development

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Background: According to the National Pressure Ulcer Association Panel (NPUAP) data, the incidence of pressure wounds (PW) in acute care units varies between 0.4-38%, in long-term care units 2.2-23.9%. While it is stated that more than 700,000 patients develop PW each year in the UK and 180,000 of them start in the hospital, PW is a significant health burden affecting more than 2.5 million adults per year in the United States (USA) and will affect the growing elderly population in the future. According to the National Health Service (NHS), it is claimed that the daily cost of treatment applied in the treatment of PW is more than 3.8 million. European Pressure Ulcer Association Panel (EPUAP) according to, PW is defined as localized skin/subcutaneous tissue damage, usually occurring on bone prominences, caused by additional factors together with pressure or shearing. It is said that hand massage is effective in preventing the development of PW; when the literature results are examined, it has been determined that there are insufficient studies at the level of evidence to measure the effectiveness of massage applications or hand massage. Therefore, our study, it was aimed to evaluate the effect of classical hand massage on the prevention of PW. Method: A total of 60 patients over the age of 18 who were hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the hospital with undeveloped PW and who had not undergone surgery were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The patients included in the experimental group were massaged twice a day, in the morning and evening, together with nursing care, for 15-20 minutes. Admitted to the control group. only nursing care was applied to the basta. Due to the lack of a clear time for PW development in the literature, patients; In the hospital where the research was conducted, patients were followed up for 12 days, since the average duration of opening RF was 12 days in 2019-2020. Patients who were opened BY were followed up until the day they were opened.