BACKGROUND The prevalence of pressure ulcers of the foot is a major health care problem in frail elderly patients. A pressure sore dramatically increases the cost of medical and nursing care, and effective treatment has always been an essential nursing concern. Management options for pressure ulcers include local wound care; surgical repair; and, more recently, topical application of growth fac...

OBJECTIVE The Chief Nurse National Health Service Wales initiated a national survey of acute and community hospital patients in Wales to identify the prevalence of pressure ulcers and incontinence-associated dermatitis. METHODS Teams of two nurses working independently assessed the skin of each inpatient who consented to having their skin observed. RESULTS Over 28 September 2015 to 2nd Octo...

 Malnutrition is a significant factor in the development of pressure ulcers and many nutritional guidelines for preventing pressure ulcers have been published. However, few clinical investigations have examined the energy required to heal pressure ulcers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between nutritional intake and improvement of pressure ulcers. Total calor...

Even in the present, pressure ulcers still represent a severe health problem, particularly in Intensive Care Units (ICU). This study assesses the implementation of a protocol to prevent pressure ulcers in ICU inpatients. This prospective, descriptive and exploratory study verifies the incidence of pressure ulcers following the implementation of a prevention protocol. Data were collected from Ap...

Pressure ulcers continue to be a personally and financially expensive complication of surgery and hospitalization. The effects of anesthesia, immobilization during surgery, and use of multiple medical devices all place the surgical patient at high risk for pressure-related skin injury. As part of a comprehensive pressure ulcer prevention initiative, nurses in the cardiac and main ORs at Childre...

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of a quality management program in reducing the incidence and severity of pressure ulcers in critical care patients. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental, before-and-after study that was conducted in a medical-surgical intensive care unit. Consecutive patients who had received mechanical ventilation for ≥ 96 hours were included. A "Process Improveme...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare classification of pressure ulcers from administrative data with a gold standard assessment, specifically; pressure ulcers confirmed by an independent physical assessment performed by trained nurse surveyors. SETTING A retrospective analysis of pooled cross-sectional samples of inpatients assessed across 3 consecutive prevalence surveys in a large academic...

INTRODUCTION Pressure ulcers represent a significant cause of morbidity and health care expenditure in the United States. A pressure ulcer is a lesion of localized injury to the skin or underlying tissue, usually over a bony prominence, resulting from pressure alone or in combination with shear forces. Ulcers are staged based on depth of tissue involvement. Using the revised National Pressure U...

Pressure ulcers, also called decubitus ulcers, are a common challenge of humanity and are exceptionally difficult to heal. They are wounds that are initiated by relatively short periods of pressure on the skin that blocks blood circulation causing the skin and underlying tissues to die, leading to an open wound. Pressure release can prevent further tissue degeneration, and some ulcers heal and ...

BACKGROUND Although most intensive care patients are at risk for pressure ulcers, not all experience such ulcers. OBJECTIVE To examine a model of variables related to extrinsic and intrinsic pressure on skin and underlying tissues, oxygenation, perfusion, and baseline comorbid conditions to identify risk factors associated with pressure ulcers in critically ill adults. METHOD A retrospectiv...