Under (less) pressure - Facial pressure ulcer development in ventilated ICU patients: A prospective comparative study comparing two types of endotracheal tube fixations

Introduction: The development of medical device-related pressure ulcers (MDR PUs) as a result of an endotracheal tube fixator (ETTF) use affects patients particularly in the intensive care unit (ICU). Study design and data collection: Prospective comparative study followed two similar groups of ventilated ICU patients: Group A treated with cloth tape ETTF (CT-ETTF) and Group B treated with Anchorfast Hollister-ETTF (AH-ETTF). Data were collected regarding PU development, location, grade, time from intubation and hospitalisation. Results: Significant differences in PU development (p < 0.01), hospital LOS until PU development (p < 0.01), and ventilation days until PU development (p < 0.01) were found between the two groups all in favour of Group B. Linear regression conducted to identify the primary reason for these findings, revealed that the key factor responsible for more than 40% of the difference in ventilation days until ETT MDR PU formation between the groups was the usage of AH-ETTF (R-2 = 0.436, p = 0.000). Conclusions: There was a significant advantage to AH-ETTF over CT-ETTF in pressure ulcer development. This should be taken into consideration when deciding which ETTF type to use. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.