A subepidermal scanner can help with early detection of non-visible tissue injuries, based on a study of 35 hospitalized patients.
The SEM Scanner is the first FDA-authorized device designed to alert clinicians to increased pressure wound risk at specific anatomical areas, including the sacrum.
Led by a clinical nurse specialist, the study looked at whether using the wand-like device led to improved interventions. It included evaluation on patients in a medical-surgical ward.
“The outcomes of the evaluation suggest that the SEM scanner provided objective evidence that both the interventions being employed and the increase in repositioning and assessment prevented further incipient skin damage,” said author Emily Werthman, BSN, RN, now the burn program coordinator at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
The SEM is non-invasive and aims to find tissue breakdown before any skin redness occurs. Nurses who have used it can do so accurately after 10 minutes of training.
