Dolphin Therapy: 3000 Patient Outcomes

Dolphin Therapy: Outcomes for Over 3,000 Highly Complex Patients

We have now collected data for over 3,000 highly complex patients nursed on a Dolphin Therapy support surface, and have seen outstanding results:

If you prefer to read than watch a video, you can find a brief summary below.

Introduction

Between November 2015 and January 2023, we collected the following outcome data for 3,226 patients nursed on a Dolphin Therapy fluid simulation support surface:

Skin integrity/healing
Comfort
Pain management
Sleep
Turning frequency
Compliance with care

Dolphin Therapy 3000 Outcomes - Data Captured Bar In order to improve data analysis, patients were grouped at the start of placement as either ‘prevention’ (no skin damage) or ‘treatment’ (existing skin damage).

Method

Medstrom’s Clinical Advisors already working in Trusts and Health Boards collected patient information, by using a bespoke electronic data capture form. In addition, each patient was allocated a study identity number to anonymise the data.

Dolphin Therapy outcomes recorded digitally by Medstrom's Clinical Advisors

Results

In the prevention group, 98% of patients’ skin remained intact (no visible damage) whilst nursed on Dolphin Therapy.

In the treatment group, 58% of skin damage healed or improved whilst on Dolphin Therapy, 39% remained static and 3% deteriorated. These results are for all wounds, including those nursed directly on the surface. Additionally, we noted that Category IV pressure ulcers healed faster on Dolphin Therapy in comparison to published healing times.

The percentage of patients who fully or partially achieved the other objectives were as follows:

Improved comfort, pain management and sleep: > 99%
Reduced turning frequency: 98%
Improved compliance with care: 94%.

Discussion

The results were outstanding for all outcomes, especially as many of the patients were very unwell with multiple acute and chronic conditions.

Dolphin Therapy proved highly beneficial for many complex patients both with and without skin damage. Moreover, the results suggest that early adoption can help reduce patient suffering, prevent complications such as skin damage, improve efficiency and reduce costs.