Pressure Ulcer Prevention in Spinal Cord Injured Veterans: Learn At Every Turn

Pressure Ulcer Prevention in Active Duty and Veteran Spinal Cord Injured Patients:  Learn At Every Turn

 

TOPIC:  Spinal cord injured (SCI) patients are a high risk population for pressure ulcer (PU) development. An estimated 60% of SCI patients will develop pressure ulcers with an estimated cost of $70,000 to treat a single thickness wound. Treatment of PU places a financial burden on the health care system and prolongs the inpatient stay.  SCI  patients are a vulnerable population that must be monitored on a daily basis to prevent PU development or the worsening of preexisting wounds.

Purpose: The staff  noted an increase in the number of patients who developed hospital acquired pressure ulcers.  A comprehensive pressure ulcer prevention teaching plan for the SCI nursing staff was established to decrease nosocomial wounds. The Braden Risk Assessment Scale helped to identify patients at risk for PU development. Specific skin care interventions were implemented to help prevent the development or worsening of PU (example: Turn Schedule, float heels, dietary consult/optimize nutrition, specialty mattress, skin care protocol, patient and family education).

Objective:  To decrease the number of hospital acquired wounds in the Spinal cord injury and disorder population with a goal of 0% by the end of the 2^nd quarter of the fiscal year.

Conclusion: SCI patients need the best nursing care and technology  available to prevent and manage multiple recurrent pressure ulcers. However, due to the acuity level of this population, all spinal cord injured patients have a lifelong risk for PU development. During the first quarter of the  fiscal year 2011 the number of hospital acquired wounds dropped to two and the goal of zero acquired wounds was achieved by the end of the second quarter. We attribute this significant reduction to the systematic changes in nursing care that was implemented.