preview

Skin Breakdown Paper

Better Essays

Background For my practice I was fortunate to be able to work at the Bethany in Cochrane. This facility was well kept and has much of the equipment to properly and holistically care for their residents. While in practice, I was able to help with a variety of tasks, including morning care and bed making. An essential element of morning care was a skin assessment, typically to look for bruises, dry spots, and most importantly, ulcers. Ulcers are painful and can decrease quality of life (Ricci, 2013). Skin breakdown is typically caused by moisture, skin pH, microorganisms, and friction (Flynn, 2011). The use of stretchy polyester cotton blend sheets at the facility led to the inquiry of skin integrity and the influence of fabrics on aging skin. I began to wonder if fabric breathability make that much of a difference, which lead me to the question of fabrics and facts. Does the use of polyester sheets, cotton sheets, or cotton polyester blend sheets decrease the risk of skin breakdown in long term …show more content…

For this study researchers assessed 32 different fabrics made of polyester, cotton, viscose fibers, polypropylene, and a blend of the fabrics to determine the thermal conductivity, the wicking ability, the breathability of the fabric, and the fabrics ability to absorb water (Basal & Ilgaz, 2009). In order to collect accurate data researchers used an Alambeta thermos tester, a specialized machine to measure heat and moisture. In this study, polyester and cotton alone caused higher thermal resistance than a cotton polyester blend (Basal & Ilgaz, 2009). A strait cotton or polyester blend was found to be better at wicking away moisture, which is one of the main causes of skin breakdown (Basal & Ilgaz, 2009). In the conclusion of the study the researchers determined that channeled polyester was the best choice for bedsheets due to combined factors (Basal & Ilgaz,

Get Access