Nursing Assignment Report: Pressure Sores Education Tool Proposal

This report focuses on pressure sores, also known as pressure ulcers, which are localized injuries to the skin or underlying tissue caused by pressure, often over bony prominences. It explores the signs, symptoms, and risk factors, including immobility and poor nutrition, along with potential complications like cellulitis and sepsis. The report delves into the pathophysiology, stages of pressure ulcers, and clinical manifestations, including treatments like antibacterial drugs and debridement. The target audience is identified as clinicians, emphasizing the need for education and training. The educational intervention process, including comprehensive wound assessment and documentation, is detailed. The report highlights gaps in education and training and introduces the PUSH tool for monitoring ulcer healing. The overall goal is to improve outcomes through education, prevention strategies, and patient awareness.

NURSING
ASSIGNMENT

Pressure Sores
 Pressure sores, or pressure ulcers are termed as
pressure injuries which refers to the localized
damage to the skin or underlying tissue of an
individual. The occurrence of the pressure sores has
been found over bony prominence as the outcome
of the pressure combined with friction (Demarre
et al., 2015).

Sign & symptoms of bed sores
 It has been found that the ulcers mostly develop
in the parts of skin which covers the bony
prominences such as hips, heels, and ankles. One
of the first and common sign of pressure sores is
the darkening, or discolouring of the skin. It may
feel hard and warm to touch that particular area
for the person.

Risk factors of pressure
sores
 It is one of the most common issue, as
around 700,000 people are affected by
ulcers each year.
 The elderly and individuals with the
decreased mobility are largely found to
develop pressure sores (Graves and Zheng,
2014).
 Thus, risk factors consists of poor
nutrition, hydration, immobility, or lack
of sensory perception (Bus et al, 2016).

Complications
 Pressure ulcers results into few life-threatening
complications/health outcomes to an individual.
 Complications such as Cellulitis, Bone and joint
infections, cancer and Sepsis (Ham et al., 2014).
 Amongst these the most serious health issue is
cancer which influences the health for a longer
period (Eljedi, ElDaharja and Dukhan, 2015).

General prevention
 To prevent the issue of pressure ulcers,
an individual can work on reducing the
stress on their skin.
 It also includes taking care of the skin,
intake of good nutrition, quitting
smoking, or exercising daily.
 Acquiring required information or
knowledge will also assist the patient
towards improvement.

Pathophysiology
 Pressure ulcers are mostly caused due to inadequate
blood supply and resulting reperfusion injury on re-
entering of blood into the tissue (Di Monaco et al.,
2015).
 The sore can be exemplified as the pain or ache
experienced by individuals for long periods of time.
 The individuals or target audience in these cases are
the patients/ consumers (Rajaram, Barnard and Bilimoria,
2015).

Stages of pressure ulcers
 Stage 1 is the mildest stage of
pressure injuries which discolours the
upper layer of the skin. In this stage
the condition of the wound is deeper,
leading to burning or itching (Qaseem et
al., 2015).
 Stage 2 ulcer seems to appear as a
serum-filled blister which may or may
not burst. Here, a person suffers pain
from the ulcers (Bus et al., 2016).

 Stage 3 pressure ulcers resembles as crater, and
also smells awful bad. Also, the sores which has
progressed to the third stage breaks down
completely through the top two layers of the skin.
 Ulcers at the fourth stage are most serious and
extend below the subcutaneous fat into the deep
tissues like muscles, tendons and ligaments (Kallman
and Lindgren, 2014).

Clinical manifestations for Sores
 Some of the clinical interventions or the treatment
available to the patients influenced by patient
sores include antibacterial drugs to treat infection.
In addition, using pain medications to help the
patients get relief from the discomfort.
 Other clinical treatment for the pressure ulcers also
includes debridgement surgery which helps in
removing the dead tissues from the skin (Bus et
al., 2016).

Target audience
 To understand the problem of pressure sores and
relating it to the need of education or research, it
has been found that healthcare staff, or clinicians
are the individuals to be provided education for
preventing sores.
 Thus, the target audience for the study and
prevention of pressure sores is clinicians and the
affected patients.

 It is important to understand what type of
information is required by the staff/nurses in
the hospital to help them towards prevention of
sores.
 The rationale behind choosing clinicians as
‘target audience’ is that they are the individuals
who actually interact with the patients of
pressure sores (Lala et al., 2014).