# Effectiveness of skin interface pressure and temperature monitoring for pressure injury prevention in paraplegic patients: a comparative study

## TL;DR

Monitoring skin pressure and temperature in paraplegic patients helps prevent pressure injuries better than regular turning schedules.

## Contribution

Personalized positioning based on real-time pressure and temperature data reduces pressure injury incidence in paraplegic patients.

## Key findings

- The study group had significantly lower pressure injury rates at 3, 6, and 12 months compared to the control group.
- Skin temperature was negatively correlated with pressure injuries, while pressure was positively correlated.
- Personalized positioning reduced nursing workload and improved patient satisfaction.

## Abstract

Studies indicate that the conventional practice of turning patients every 2 h has certain limitations in preventing pressure injuries among paraplegic patients. This study aimed to explore the application effect of skin interface pressure combined with skin temperature monitoring to prevent pressure injury (PI) in paraplegic patients.

Using convenience sampling, 89 paraplegic patients from the Department of Rehabilitation, Department of Orthopedics, Wound Center, and Department of Neurology of two tertiary hospitals in Wenzhou (from January 2021 to July 2023) were randomly assigned to the study and control groups. The study group received infrared thermography and portable pressure/temperature monitoring at pressure points, guiding personalized position management plans. In contrast, the control group received routine disease treatment and standard pressure injury protection. Follow-up assessments were conducted at 3-, 6-, and 12-month post-intervention for both groups. Data collected included pressure injury incidence rates at these three time points, patient satisfaction scores, nursing time spent on positioning management during hospitalization, and mean daily frequency of position changes.

The incidence of pressure injury in the study group and the control group at 3, 6, and 12 months after the end of the trial was 2.3% vs. 6.7, 4.5% vs. 13.3, and 4.5% vs. 20%, respectively. Spearman’s correlation analysis found that the sacrococcygeal pressure values of paraplegic patients were positively correlated with the occurrence of pressure injuries (r = 0.676), while the skin temperature values were negatively correlated with pressure injuries (r = −0.701). The degrees of patients’ satisfaction with nursing in the study group were significantly higher than those of the control group. Furthermore, the nursing workload of the study group was considerably less than that of the control group.

This study implied that personalized positioning guided by real-time sacral pressure and skin temperature monitoring significantly reduced long-term PI incidence in paraplegic patients. Pressure and temperature may serve as validated early-warning indicators. Our findings supported replacing rigid 2-h schedules with individualized protocols.