The Painless Pressure Ulcer Quarterly Prevalence Survey

Most WOC Nurses cringe when it is time for the annual pressure ulcer prevalence survey.   Would anyone want to commit to this grueling process more than once a year? It can be a long, tedious, and back breaking day. As part of our Magnet journey it was imperative that the WOC nurses lead the process for quarterly rather than yearly surveillance.    When faced with the reality of a quarterly prevalence survey in a 700-bed acute care facility our team was understandably reluctant. 

To promote success, a method to organize, collect and process pressure ulcer data was critical.  We realized front line staff involvement was critical to our overall success, but the data had to be accurate and complete.  Developing a process that was meaningful to unit staff, but was also efficient, effective, and reliable was the WOC team’s challenge.   We developed an instrument to collect as much of the NDNQI required data as possible from the electronic medical record. This instrument allows us to complete the pressure ulcer prevalence survey in less than five hours on 23 inpatient units, a phenomenal feat for any WOC team.

Based on our revised process, staff engagement has improved, with an overall increase in nursing satisfaction from 3.21 to 3.85 (1-5 scale), an overall increase of 17% over one year.  The time to reconcile and check the reliability and validity of the data has decreased from 12 to 6 hours, cutting our workload in half. We are well on our way to a collaborative hassle free quarterly pressure ulcer prevalence process.  By replicating our process, you too can successfully navigate through a quarterly prevalence survey.