Literature Review on Pressure Ulcer

Running head: PRESSURE ULCER
Literature Review on Pressure Ulcer
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PRESURE ULCER1
Abstract
Pressure ulcer is the damage of the skin and its underlying tissue caused by prolonged
pressure on a specific area of the body. Tissue necrosis is one of the severe consequences of
pressure ulcer. Hospital Acquired pressure ulcer is a growing health issue which requires the
attention of the stakeholders from health care industry. Use of risk assessment tool upon
admission of patient for assessing the risk of pressure ulcer in the patient can be critical
intervention to help the health care professionals keep a check on the incidence of pressure
ulcer. A systematic review of literature with definite search protocol was performed to gain
deeper insights on the information available on the pressure ulcer. The selected articles were
categorised into different themes, such as prevention strategies, prevalence and assessment,
financial burden and risk assessment tools.

PRESURE ULCER2
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Method...........................................................................................................................4
Search Strategy...........................................................................................................5
Selection Criteria........................................................................................................5
Study Selection...........................................................................................................6
Literature review............................................................................................................6
Prevalence and Assessment........................................................................................6
Prevention Strategies..................................................................................................7
Pressure Injury Risk Assessment...............................................................................9
Impact of Pressure Ulcer..........................................................................................10
Conclusion....................................................................................................................11
References....................................................................................................................13

PRESURE ULCER3
Introduction
Hospital acquired injuries are major health issue globally, of which pressure ulcer is
highlighted health concern in the current health care sector. Pressure ulcer are a type of
acquired injury that is caused due to constant pressure on the skin, which leads to breakdown
of the skin and its underlying tissues (Gardiner et al. 2016). The constant pressure on the
limited area of skin reduces the amount of oxygen received by the tissues underlying the skin
and nutrition cessation occurs (Beeckman et al. 2014). Pressure causes tissue ischaemia, that
is, restriction of blood supply to the tissues, which leads refrains the tissues from performing
cellular metabolic activities with shortage of oxygen supply (Oomens et al. 2015).
Continuous exposure to pressure on the skin without any relive increases the severity of
tissue ischaemia, causing tissue dysfunction or necrosis, that is, tissue death (Swisher et al.
2015). The most accurate description of pressure ulcer is given by the term ‘deformation
damage’. In pressure ulcer, localised damage due to tissue ischaemia or necrosis occurs and
the prime cause of tissue damage is the application of external force, which includes
compression, shear or both. In pressure ulcer is commonly known in the United Kingdom as
‘pressure sores’. However, the lack of open wounds in such medical injuries makes the use of
term ‘sores’ inappropriate. The European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP) accepts
the use of ‘pressure ulcer’ as the definitive term to denote the specific injury. Incidence of
pressure ulcers in hospital patients is constantly increasing with the count of over 24,000
patients between 2015-2016 reporting to have developed pressure ulcers during their stay at
the hospital and receiving treatment for other health issues (NHS Digital 2019). According to
NHS Digital (2019), the average length of stay for the patients acquiring pressure ulcers in
the hospital is 25 days. Pressure ulcer is a highly avoidable mistake and requires extensive
research on the possible causes and reasons that lead to development of such injuries to the
patient during their stay at the hospital. Incidence of pressure ulcer puts health outcome and