It might also be useful to differentiate
between barriers products that protect
vulnerable skin and those for improving
IADwhereskinintegrityhasalreadybeen
lost.Furthermore,guidelinesidentifyingthe
properties, indications for use and brand
nameexamplesofbarrierproductscontaining
themostcommonactiveingredientsmight
provebeneficialforhealthcareprofessionals.
Currentreviewsdisagreeontheproperties
andeffectivenessofsomeproducts(Beldon
2012;Grayetal,2012)andarecentstudyby
Doughtyandcolleagues(2012)confirmsthat,
whilerecommendationscanbemadeforthe
moisturisingstepofaskincareregimen,more
researchneedstobeconductedifthesameis
tobedoneforbarrierproducts.
Basedonthefindingsofthisreview,there
is insufficient evidence to recommend one
barrier product over another for elderly
residentslivinginlong-termcarefacilities.Two
outofthefivestudiesthattestedtheCavilon
film favoured it over the other products
(BaatenburgdeJongandAdmiraal,2004;Bale
etal,2004)andBaleetal(2004)saidthatit
dramaticallyreducedtheincidenceofpressure
ulcers, although this was not an outcome
ofthisreview.However,Zehreretal(2004)
stated that Cavilon showed no significant
differencetotheotherproductstested.
Allofthestudies(exceptHoggarthetal,
2005)areatahighriskofbiasasnoneofthem
comparedthebarrierproductstoacontrol.It
thereforecannotbedeterminedwhetherthe
useofabarrierproductisbetterthanusing
noneatall.
AstandardisedassessmenttoolforIADis
alsoneededtoprovidecongruencewithinthe
methodologyoffutureresearchinthisfield.
Withonlyalimitedconcurrencebetweenthesixstudiesoverall,theresponsibilityofproduct
choicestillfallsontheindividualcarefacility
andontheindividualhealthcareprofessional