Pressure Injury Prevalence and the Rate of Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury Among Pediatric Patients in Acute Care.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence and rate of hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) in pediatric patients. Descriptive, secondary analysis of 2012 data on pressure injuries among pediatric patients from the National Database for Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI). The sample included 39,984 patients 1 day to 18 years old from 678 pediatric acute care units (general pediatrics, pediatric critical care, neonatal intensive care, pediatric step-down, and pediatric rehabilitation units) in 271 US hospitals that submitted pressure injury data to the NDNQI for at least 3 quarters during 2012. The pressure injury prevalence was 1.4% and the prevalence of HAPI was 1.1%. The rate of HAPI among males was 1.06%, and the rate among females was 1.14%. HAPI rates were highest among children ages 9 to 18 years (1.6%) and 5 to 8 years (1.4%) and lowest among patients 1 to 30 days of age (0.72%). By unit type, HAPIs were highest among patients in pediatric critical care units (3.7%) and pediatric rehabilitation units (4.6%) and lowest in general pediatrics units (0.57%). Most of the HAPIs were Stage 1 and Stage 2 (65.6%); 14.3% were deep tissue pressure injuries and 10.1% were unstageable pressure injuries. Acutely ill children develop pressure injuries, including HAPI. Study findings provide data on HAPI from a large sample of hospitalized children and by pediatric unit type for comparison purposes.