Exercise Plan in Preventing of Pressure Ulcers among Post Operative Patients

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Pressure ulcers are the common conditions among patients hospitalized in acute and chronic care facilities and impose significant burden on patients, their relatives and caregivers. Pressure ulcers have been described as one of the most costly and physically debilitating complications since the 20th century. The pain and discomfort due to pressure ulcer prolongs illness, rehabilitation, time of discharge and even contribute to disability and death. Lengthy periods of immobilization are emotionally stressful for patients. Immobility related problems include pressure ulcers, pneumonia, constipation, loss of appetite, urinary stasis, urinary track infections and venous stasis or deep vein thrombosis. When the complications due to immobilization are prevented it helps an individual to be physically, emotionally and psychologically sound. These complications can be prevented through simple basic patient care like skincare, active-passive exercises, changing position and deep breathing exercises. Nurses have a key role in prevention of these complications by educating the patients. Hence the study was conducted “To evaluate the effectiveness of structured teaching programme regarding prevention of complications of immobilized patients . methods: The study involved 50 immobilized orthopaedic patients using the structured interview schedule. STP was implemented and post-test was conducted after 8 days using the same structured interview schedule to find out the effectiveness. Results: 86% of respondents were taking mixed diet and 60% had compound fracture. The main cause for the fracture was road traffic accident (46 %). Regarding effectiveness of Structure exercise plan , the overall mean percentage knowledge score in the pre-test was 34.71% and 80.91% in the post-test. The statistical paired ‘t’ test indicates that enhancement in the mean percentage knowledge score was found to be significant at P≤0.05 percent level for all the aspects . Conclusion: This study revealed that nursing staffs’ knowledge and practice about pressure ulcer preventive measures could be improved. Participants in the study reported that they could use the educational program effectively and easily in the prevention of pressure ulcers among their immobilized patients, which decreases the occurrence of pressure ulcers and as well as improved patient outcome. Keywords: pressure ulcer, post operative patients, structure exercise plan