Nursing Case Study on Pressure Injury Assessment and Management

Running head: NURSING CASE STUDY
NURSING CASE STUDY
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1NURSING CASE STUDY
Introduction:
Pressure injury is defined as the localized damage caused to the skin and underlying tissue over a
bony prominence or linked to medical device (Black 2018, pp. 10-39). The injury may be intact
to the skin or present as open ulcer. Pressure injury occurs due to prolonged or intense pressure
and sometimes in combination with shear. The external pressure is higher than (>30 mm Hg)
internal capillary pressure of bony prominence (Haesler, Rayner & Carville 2012, pp.6). The risk
of pressure injury depends on standardized scale skill assessment of health professionals and it is
staged according to the depth of the wound (Chan et al. 2013, pp.431-440). Pressure injury is
preventable. However, the prevalence of pressure injury is high in the health care and community
setting of Australia (Nguyen, Chaboyer & Whitty 2015, pp.329-336).
The case study will provide the health story of Julia whom I have cared for pressure injury. The
assignment will provide brief information about the importance of pressure injury assessment
and effective communication and I will reflect on my experience in order to improve my clinical
skills.
Case study:
Julia is a 65 years old woman with a background of 30 years of paralysis of lower body due to an
accident and she has a background of paraplegic knife assault. Due to the issue of immobility she
spends most of her time in the wheel chair. Julia has a 5 years history of chronic pressure injury
over the sacrum and buttock. She has undergone antibiotic therapy. Her medical history has
indicated that she is suffering from morbid obesity, type 2 diabetes and thyroid disorder as well.
She maintains a proper diet in order to manage her diabetes and intakes adequate fluid also. Her
diagnosis report has shown that she is suffering from stage two pressure injury. Her injury was
2.5 cm long and 1.3 cm wide with devitalized tissue in the pressure ulcer and partial thickness
loss of the dermis and a shallow pink wound bed with no visible slough and small amount of
serous exudates, nil odor and nil bruising of the peri wound.