Miss Jodie Wiseman¹, Dr Megan Simons², Professor Roy Kimble², Dr Zephanie Tyack¹

¹Centre For Children’s Burns And Trauma Research, South Brisbane, Australia, ²Pegg Leditschke Children’s Burns Centre – Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, South Brisbane, Australia

Abstract:
Background

Despite widespread use of pressure garments for scar management in burn units, the applied pressure to the burn scar has rarely been assessed in research studies or in routine clinical practice. Thus evidence-based clinical decision-making regarding the fit and replacement of garments is difficult.

Methods

This presentation aims to review the test re-test reliability and the clinical utility (appropriate, accessible, practicable, and acceptable) of the Pliance X device (Novel). Data was obtained from a longitudinal cohort study of children wearing their first pressure garment post-burn and an ongoing randomised controlled trial investigating pressure garment effectiveness. A static and dynamic measurement was completed resulting in a mean pressure beneath the pressure garment in millimetres of mercury (mmHg).

Results

Participants currently include 100 children aged 0 to 17 with a TBSA <40%. Test-retest reliability of the Pliance X was acceptable (ICC = 0.88). Measurements were fast to complete (10 seconds) however were unable to be completed on the whole garment or small digits due to the size of the probe. Other considerations include time to process raw data, high cost of the device, the need for multiple training sessions, a difficult to follow manual and only one Australian based representative.

Discussion

Whilst reliability and some aspects of clinical utility were supported for the Pliance X, other options need to be explored for children with small digits, measuring the whole garment at one time and to reduce the time required to process data so that immediate evidence based clinical decision-making is possible.

Biography:
Jodie is an Occupational Therapist who is undertaking her PhD with the Centre for Children’s Burns and Trauma Research, University of Queensland. Jodie’s research is investigating the effectiveness of non invasive burn scar management in children. Jodie is also currently working as a research assistant with the Centre for Children’s Burns and Trauma Research and has clinical experience across community, hospital and private practice settings.