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Objective: To reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers related to moisture from urine or stool; reduce the number of incontinent pads and linens used under patients; reduce the amount of laundry costs; augment the effectiveness of rental alternating air mattress overlays; increase patient comfort; and improve patient and staff satisfaction.
Design: Observational, interventional, and product evaluation questionnaire. Each incontinence pad will be studied for thirty days and eleven desirable features will be compared between the presently used super absorbent air-permeable pad and three comparable super absorbent air-permeable pads. Data will be collected on hospital-acquired pressure ulcers during each month of the trial.
Setting: Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and Coronary Care Unit (CCU)
Main Outcome Measure: Reduction of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. Determination of the incontinence pad with the highest desirable features ratings.
Main Results: The incidence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers decreased from five per month to one per month. One super absorbent air-permeable incontinent pad surpassed all trialed incontinent pads on every feature.
Conclusions: The implementation of this quality improvement (QI) project provides several advantages. Using the national pressure ulcer treatment cost and hospital-acquired pressure ulcer data from a large tertiary hospital, this QI project demonstrates the potential cost savings of $5,875,720.00 per year in pressure ulcer treatment costs. Implementation and success of the new incontinent pad usage will be dependent on staff education, follow-through and accountability.