Prevention and Management of Pressure Ulcers in Healthcare Settings

This assignment focuses on the prevention and management of pressure ulcers in healthcare settings. It covers the causes, symptoms, and standard evaluation methods. It also discusses sampling methods, data collection, and data analysis. The use of evidence-based practice methods such as the Braden score is emphasized.

PRESSURE ULCER
PREVENTION

INTRODUCTION
 The assignment focuses on the
particular aspect of the
prevention and management
of bed sores or pressure ulcers.
 This could be attributed to lack
of optimal care standards and
procedures within a health
care setting.
 The bed sores or the pressure
ulcers are common in case of
patients suffering from long
term sickness or lying down for
a very long time (Sadeghi et al.
2015).

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
 Bed sores are formed due to limited blood supply
to a part of the skin (Stansby et al. 2014).
 causes reddening of the skin along with
development of scars or skin shedding.
 changes observed in the texture or the colour of
the skin.
 Additionally, pus like drainage along with
swelling, irritability and warming of the areas are
also observed in pressure ulcers (Sawatzky et al.
2017).

CONTD..
 As commented by Yost et al.
(2015), the degree of skin or
tissue damage ranges
unbroken skin to deep muscle
and bone injury
 The degree of infection further
increases with non-movements
in the patient (Santamaria et
al. 2015).

CONTD..
 Reports and estimates have show that no less
than 8% of all hospital patients have
experienced bed sores at one point of time or
the other.
 On the contrary, a further higher percentage of
cases of pressure ulcers have been noticed in
patients receiving care within their own home
set ups (Patiraki et al. 2017)

STANDARD OF EVALUATION
 The uses of pressure ulcer prediction tools such
as the Braden Scale have been a landmark
development
 Applications of the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ) guidelines have
been seen to reduce the incidents of pressure
ulcer development (ahrq, 2017).

CONTD…
 weekly assessments of
the pressure ulcers
 For the assessment of the
pressure ulcers location,
size, colour of the wound,
the amount of exudates,
odour, nature or the
frequency of pain are
important governing
factors (ncbi, 2017)
 second stage is the
assessment of the extent
of tissue damage caused

CONTD..
 Lack of sufficient knowledge in the nursing
professionals regarding identification of all stages of
pressure ulcers could be a plausible hindrance
 The uses of the Barden Scale have been found to be
of relevance in assessment of the pressure ulcer
conditions in the patients (Berkman et al. 2017).
 The Braden scale consists of six measurement
parameters based upon which the assessment is
conducted such as – sensory perception, mobility,
moisture, activity, nutrition and friction or shear.
 The score can range anywhere 6-23; however, a
lesser score generally means potentially higher risk
for an individual (ncbi, 2017)

SAMPLING METHODS
 For the process of clinical audit a mixed method
was followed
 10 people were interviewed including the patients,
registered nurses and respective family members
regarding their conditions and management of bed
sores.
 Apart from that online questionnaires were
generated for collecting responses related to
affective pressure ulcer and would management
(Santamaria et al. 2015)
 Fewer case notes had also been taken into
consideration for making the study on pressure
ulcers

CONTD..
 qualitative assessment
was conducted in order
to analyse the responses
of the patient and their
respective families
 the privacy norms also
needs to be maintained
during the process of
recording individual
patient responses (Pigott
et al. 2017).

CONTD..
 Pamphlets could be distributed in the waiting
room inviting the family members of the patient
to participate in the online discussion.
 Furthermore analysis of the nurse notes along
with the observation charts or the medication
charts can further help in assessment of the
nursing practices with regards to management of
the conditions of pressure ulcers (Berkman et al.
2017)

DATA COLLECTION
 The process had been kept
open where any such
participants could leave the
interview process at any
point of time
 proper written consent had
to be taken from the patient
and their respective families
(Berkman et al. 2017)
 The questionnaires were
distributed through online
platforms covering the
various areas of pressure
ulcers treatment

DATA ANALYSIS
 The responses collected through
the open ended questionnaires
were used in percentage
calculation along with mean and
median mode analysis.
 The interview responses were
recorded to make video
transcripts which were further
utilised for grouping of the
similar and dissimilar data.
 The similar data were further
made into themes (Abdullah et
al. 2014).
 The themes were analysed for
emphasizing upon the current
problem (Fraley and Hudson,
2014).

CONCLUSION
 The current assignment focuses on the concept of knowledge
translation within nursing practices looking after the care
needs or wound redressal of the one suffering from bed sores
or pressure ulcers.
 The occurrence of pressure ulcers are very common within a
healthcare setup and needs to be taken into consideration.
 This is particularly noticed in case of one’s receiving long
term treatment for end of life or palliative care.
 Therefore, such patients have to be dependent on attending
health care professionals for their basic needs including
movements.
 In this respect, some of the effective evidence based practise
methods such as measurement of the Braden score can be
used to evaluate the risk factors associated with a patient in
particular for the development of pressure ulcers.

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