Prevention of Pressure Ulcers in Patients Under Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation. Randomized Clinical Trial

Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation (NIVM) has turned into a standard in the care of patients with acute respiratory failure. Defined as a support modality to the patient's spontaneous ventilation, it does not use invasive techniques to ventilate, working as an external device named interface or mask, avoiding so the complications associated to the invasive ventilation.

NIVM had been restricted to ICU and Pneumology services, but in the last years it has been extended to ER with good results and it is being also used in the pre-hospital attention and in the home care of chronic patient.

Often, the preferred interface is the oronasal, worst tolerated but associated to best treatment of the acute pathology. In most cases to avoid air leaks, its proper placement generates high pressure on the skin, being able to harm patient's tissues, so that this therapy as intervention for the acute patient has pressure ulcers -PU- as main iatrogenic effect - although 95% of the PU are considered as preventable-.

To diminish the pressure of the mask on the points of the face, nurses protect the most exposed zones with dressings of hydrogel-foam, polyurethane and/or hyperoxygenated fatty acids, trying to prevent PU.

Reviewed studies present a big variability in these practices as well as high dispersion of the results achieved.