Effect of different interval time of repositioning on the pressed skin of elderly patients with chronic heartfailure

Objective To discuss the effect of gradually prolonging interval time of repositioning on the pressed skin of elderly patients with chronic heart failure. Methods Convenience sampling was used to choose 60 elderly patients with chronic heart failure, who were randomly divided in the observation group and the control group, each with 30 cases. The control group was repositioned once for 120 min according to the conventional method, while the observation group was repositioned once for 120 min for a week and then 30 min prolonged the next 3 weeks. Incidence rate of pressure ulcers and pressure on both scapular and sacrococcygeal regions with interval time of 120 rain, 150 min, 180 rain and 210 min were compared between two groups. Results The pressure had no statistically significant difference in the observation group among interval time of 120 min, 150 min and 180 min, however, the pressure on both scapular and sacrococcygeal regions with interval time of 210 min was respectively （53.67 ~3.22）, （52.71 ±4.19）, （95.34 ±0.48）mmHg, higher than those with other interval times, and the differences were statistically significant （P 〈 0.05 ）. There was no statistically significant difference of pressure on both scapular and sacrococcygeal regions during the first, second and third week between two groups. The pressures, however, were higher in the observation group than in the control group [ （48.10 ±2.67）（47.94 ±5.10）（90.91 ± 1.27） mmHg] during the fourth week, and the differences were statistically significant （P 〈 0.05）. The incidence rate of pressure ulcers was 20.00% in the observation group and 16.67% in the control group, and both groups had no phase III pressure ulcers, with no statistically significant difference （ Z = 0.074, P 〉 0.05 ）. Conclusions Prolonging the interval time of repositoning to 180 min can effectively improve the skin tolerance of elderly patients with chronic heart failure, reduce their discomfort as well as nurses＇ workload without incidence of pressure ulcers. Key words: Pressure ulcers ;  Chronic heart failure;  Elderly;  Interval time of repositioning