Article
The development and testing of a skin tear risk assessment tool
International Wound Journal
(2015)
Abstract
The aim of the present study is to develop a reliable and valid skin tear risk assessment
tool. The six characteristics identified in a previous case control study as constituting
the best risk model for skin tear development were used to construct a risk assessment
tool. The ability of the tool to predict skin tear development was then tested in a
prospective study. Between August 2012 and September 2013, 1466 tertiary hospital
patients were assessed at admission and followed up for 10 days to see if they developed
a skin tear. The predictive validity of the tool was assessed using receiver operating
characteristic (ROC) analysis. When the tool was found not to have performed as well
as hoped, secondary analyses were performed to determine whether a potentially better
performing risk model could be identified. The tool was found to have high sensitivity
but low specificity and therefore have inadequate predictive validity. Secondary analysis
of the combined data from this and the previous case control study identified an
alternative better performing risk model. The tool developed and tested in this study was
found to have inadequate predictive validity. The predictive validity of an alternative,
more parsimonious model now needs to be tested.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2015
DOI
10.1111/iwj.12561
Citation Information
Newall, N., Lewin, G., Bulsara, M., Carville, K., Leslie, G., and Roberts, P. (2015). The development and testing of a skin tear risk assessment tool, International Wound Journal. DOI: 10.1111/iwj.12561