Meta-analysis Shows Patient Wearable Sensor Reduces Incidence of Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries in Critically Ill Patients

Abstract Body: Background and Purpose: The majority of pressure injuries (PI) are preventable and a number of interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing the occurrence of pressure injuries, most notably regular repositioning of immobile patients. However, current methodologies such as paper clocks or musical chimes to prompt on-time repositioning have not produced sustainable compliance to turn protocols and therefore sustained outcomes. A wearable patient sensor system[i] (patient sensor) has been shown to provide an objective recording of patient turning practices. The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical effectiveness of patient sensor in the prevention of hospital acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) in acutely ill patients. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of all currently publicly available research on the patient sensor from journals or conference abstracts reporting on incidence of HAPIs. One randomised controlled trial (RCT) and 7 conference abstracts were identified which are before and after studies. Results were entered into a statistical model and pooled together to estimate the overall effect of the patient sensor in reducing the HAPIs. Results: A total of 34,711 patients were included in the studies, of these, 19,136 patients used the patient sensor. The majority of the patients were hospitalized and over 75 years of age. The patient sensor reduced incidence of HAPIs by 70% Risk ratio (RR) 0.30 (95% Confidence interval 0.21- 0.44) p< 0.00001. Conclusions: Over 19,000 patients provided data on the effectiveness of the patient sensor in reducing HAPIs and the evidence suggests that the sensor reduces HAPIs by 70%. More controlled studies are needed to validate these results.