Cost and prevention of pressure ulcers in an acute teaching hospital.

The cost of pressure ulcer treatment is much greater than the cost of prevention. Treating a pressure ulcer incurs considerable cost to the patient and hospital, especially if the pressure ulcer has advanced beyond stage one. In this paper, the cost of the intensive treatment required for patients who developed a pressure ulcer for two procedures, coronary artery bypass and hip replacement, in an Australian teaching hospital for the three years 1990, 1991 and 1992 was investigated. The average length of stay for all patients who had these two procedures was calculated and compared with the average length of stay for those patients who suffered a pressure ulcer. Results indicated statistical significance at the 5% confidence level for coronary artery bypass (t-test = 8.85, p = < 0.01) and for hip replacement (t-test = 5.39, p = < 0.01) for the three years 1990, 1991 and 1992. Preventive strategies were evaluated and results in this study indicated that the incidence rate improved when the pressure ulcer was detected earlier, and when positioning and appliance use were better reported, which was demonstrated for hip replacement in 1992.