Retrospective study of occurrence of pressure ulcers among the patients admitted in rural tertiary care hospital and their outcome

Abstract

This retrospective study addresses the pivotal role of pressure ulcer prevention in evaluating the quality of care within critical care units. The incidence of pressure ulcers serves as a crucial indicator, impacting patient recovery and complicating treatment. In this data based retrospective study we assessed the prevalence of pressure ulcers for a duration of 6 years. In this data we included the patients from surgical, medical, respiratory and cardiac critical care units who were admitted between 01/06/16 to 01/06/22. All male and female patients aged above 18 years were included. Patients who got discharge within 48 hours were excluded. Total of 35 patients were noted to have bedsores in intensive care unit from June 2016-June 2022 admitted under both medical and surgical branches. Out of which 34.3% were in age group above 70yrs where 87.9% were male patients. Most commonly 1-2 bedsores (97.1%) were present involving mostly buttock area (82.9%) of 2-5cm size (45.7%). Most of the patients admitted under medical branch developed bedsores more often than surgical branch and appeared after admission (77.1%) with 15-30 days hospital stay (31.4%). This study has illuminated our path forward in improving patient care and preventing pressure ulcer development among patients admitted to our medical and surgical Intensive Care Units in our Rural Tertiary hospital. The findings have paved the way for targeted interventions, underlining our commitment to raising the standard of care for our critically ill patients.