Prevention and Early Detection of Pressure Ulcers in Hospitalized Patients

Abstract

Skin integrity is identified as a measure of nursing care quality, yet pressure ulcers (PU) are a major health problem. Increasingly, patients admitted to acute care hospitals are older and possess multiple risk factors for PU development. The primary goal of this quality improvement project was to improve PU prevention and management. A secondary goal was to improve nursing documentation of PU prevention and intervention strategies. A preintervention, intervention, postintervention design was employed; the intervention included formal and informal education. Data were collected in 2 phases; Phase I occurred in a critical care unit and Phase II occurred on a medical-surgical unit. Demographics, PU incidence, risk factors, and comorbidity data were collected, along with nursing specific data. The results of this quality improvement project suggest that educational programs improve nursing care and documentation, and they raise additional questions regarding the concept of “avoidable versus unavoidable” PU in high-risk populations. ■ Background