Metropolitan begins the nation's first study in pressure injury detection

San Antonio, Texas — Methodist Hospital | Metropolitan is proud to have begun patient enrollment and monitoring in the nation’s first study for pressure injury detection. The study aims to improve early detection and prevention of pressure injuries among all patients, especially pressure injuries in people of dark skin tones. According to a five-year study published in Wounds, people with dark skin are twice as likely to suffer from pressure injuries than those with lighter skin tones.

Pressure injuries are one of the five most common harms experienced by patients and the second most common claim for lawsuits after wrongful death. According to the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel, in the U.S. alone, 60,000 patients die every year as a direct result of pressure injuries. Patient care cost per pressure injury ranges from $20,900 to $151,700 for the 2.5 million patients who develop pressure injuries per year. 

The PressureSafe™ product is an FDA-cleared, non-invasive medical device that uses infrared optical spectroscopy and an AI-based algorithm to detect early-stage pressure injuries for all skin tones.

Principal Investigator of the study and Director of the Professional Nursing Practice at Methodist Healthcare, Mary Lee Potter, PhD, MBA, RN, CWOCN, commented, “This is a very important study for our nurses and entire medical team, as we are continuously seeking to improve outcomes for our patients. We are eager to evaluate and increase the accuracy of early pressure injury detection and prevention. As the study helps us evaluate the tissues beneath the skin and digitally assesses biomarkers, the technology can objectively augment human visual inspection, and this is very interesting for us.”   

A maximum of 104 people will be enrolled in the study and approximately half with dark skin tones.