Aims and Background: Prevention of bedsore is considered as a priority in acute and long-term care in intensive
care units (ICU).This study aimed to determine the effect of olive oil on prevention of pressure ulcers in patients
hospitalized in the ICU of Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Yasuj.
Materials and Methods: In this double-blind randomized clinical trial 70 patients 18-74 years old were
investigated from 2013 to 2015. Patients were selected by purposive sampling method and were divided into
two groups. During two weeks, patients of the control group received their usual skin care including changing
positions every two hours and flow mattress while the patients of the intervention group received usual care in
addition to daily use of 15 ml olive oil on special areas of body without massage. Data about pressure ulcers
was collected using a questionnaire and was analyzed by chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and t-test in SPSS
software version 20.
Findings: In the intervention group 11.4 % had a grade 1 pressure ulcer, and 8.2 % had second grade decubitus
ulcers while 85.7 % had no pressure ulcer. In the control group, 8.5 % had a grade 1 pressure ulcer, and 25.7%
had second grade decubitus ulcers while 65.7 % had no pressure ulcer. The results of this study showed that the
incidence of pressure ulcers in the intervention group was lower than the control group (p˂0.03).
Conclusion: According to our data, it can be concluded that the use of local olive oil is effective in prevention
of pressure ulcers.