Pressure Injury and Pressure Ulcers

Robyn Evans, Carol Ott, Madhuri Reddy

Overview

Pressure ulcers represent a significant health concern for patients, families and funding agencies. Pressure ulcers are known to increase the length of stay in acute care hospitals and may contribute to premature death. Pressure ulcers are largely preventable with the appropriate assessment and management of the various intrinsic (patient related) and extrinsic (pressure, shear, friction, skin microclimate) factors. They are classified by the extent of damage to the underlying tissue using the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel staging system. There are many choices of support surfaces for the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers; however, the challenge is to use the most cost‐effective surface given the available evidence. Infection in a pressure ulcer is one of the leading causes of infections in nursing homes and significantly delays healing. Detection of infection in pressure ulcers is challenging as the classic signs and symptoms may be absent in this chronic type of wound.
Keywords pressure ulcer, risk assessment, prevention, management, infection, wound, bedsore, decubitus ulcer

Illustrations

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