Research Project Updated
19th November 2014
This trial started on 8 July 2013 and was completed in July 2015.
Background Information
Roy Powell based at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital received approval for an application for a £250,000 award from the National Institute for Health Research under its Research for Patient Benefit programme that features our protective stockings in a trial.
The trial was initiated by the hospital, is managed by the hospital and the only connection which DERMATUff have with it is that the trial uses specifically the unique DERMATUff Thin Skin Protection Socks.
Research Leader
Dr. Roy Powell, Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, Barrack Road, Exeter
Position held
Research Design Consultant for RDS-SW, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter has been the main author of this application and of the research protocol.
Research Title
Randomised controlled trial of protective stockings against usual care to reduce skin tears and bruises in high risk elderly people living in care homes: a pilot study.
The Research Plan
The plan was to recruit 90 residents of private nursing homes to participate. They would be divided into 2 groups at random. One group would wear the new protective socks and the other group would wear usual clothing for 16 weeks. All injuries would be recorded in both groups and experiences of using the stockings would be discussed with the wearers.
Actual
The actual experience of recruitment was that this was slower than hoped for. The recruitment plan therefore was changed to identification of the participants through the GP Research Practices in East Devon. Since that time recruitment has speeded up and now the necessary numbers of people have been recruited.
All trials will be completed by the end of January and after that the report on the study will be written up and then published by June/July 2015. *Update, view the published report here.
Recent Presentation
A presentation on the Study was given a recently by Dr Powell at the Peninsula Medical School to an audience of medical staff’s and academics who had taken part in other local research projects. The purpose of this presentation was as part of a competition to find the best research project protocol out of 16 entries. Roy did a fine job and as a result the Study was nominated as runner-up. The team was awarded a trophy and all the members of the participant team received a certificate. To view the presentation, click here.