Pressure ulcer prevention

Introduction to Pressure Ulcers

Mölnlycke Health Care recognises the challenges faced by healthcare practitioners in treating and preventing pressure ulcers (PU). The information contained within this pressure ulcer section is designed to help you develop your knowledge on pressure ulcers and also share with you some of the solutions that Molnlycke Health Care offer to help you treat and prevent pressure ulcers within your patient population.

A pressure ulcer may be defined as a “localised injury to the skin and/or underlying tissue, usually over a bony prominence, as a result of pressure or pressure in combination with shear.
A number of contributing or confounding factors are also associated with pressure ulcers; the significance of these factors has yet to be elucidated”¹

Pressure ulcers are not a new phenomenon – literature reports the presence dating back thousands of years however recent decades have seen growing body of knowledge and research leading to development of practice guidelines, risk assessment tools and preventative programmes. For example there has been a 960% increase in publications focusing on pressure ulcers between 1990-2008.²

Extent of pressure ulcers

Pressure Ulcer occurrence

Pressure Ulcer occurrence is usually measured in one of two methods^4,5

• Prevalence- most commonly used method; may be regarded as the number of a given population with a specific condition at a specific point in time. Note this means that it would include patients with a pressure ulcers on admission and those who have acquired one since admission
• Incidence – may be regarded as the number of new cases of a specific condition over a given period of time. A more complex methodology, time period usually measured in terms of weeks or months
• The two terms are often used in an incorrect manner – as they have very different meanings it is important that they are correctly applied
• Health care acquired – this refers to pressure ulcers that occur after admission to the specific health care environment. This may be a more relevant measure if assessing impact of prevention programmes

Pressure Ulcer Prevalence

References

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