Pressure Ulcer In Health Care

In health care settings like hospitals and other care facilities like nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, pressure ulcer is identified as a vast evil. Prevention of pressure ulcer has been a greater distress to the healthcare industry. It affects patient’s lifespan and it is a grander concern for the hospital as the treatment of a pressure ulcer is way expensive. Critically ill, bed bound and aged patients are at greater risk to develop a pressure ulcer due to inability to turn and reposition by themselves. Moreover, the patients with dementia and underprivileged diet with inadequate fluid intake are more prone to pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcer can develop on a bony prominence area such as the sacrum, heels, back and elbows due to the

Healthcare professionals must evaluate patients who are at risk to develop pressure ulcer. The care plan needs to be prepared as per skin assessment to preclude pressure ulcer. Observing skin and checking pressure ulcer on a routine basis will lessen stay at hospital and lower the expenses for hospital and patient as well. The healthcare professional must use methods like turning and repositioning every 2 hours, proper skin protection and provide a nutritional diet to prevent the pressure ulcer. Hospitals should promote an awareness among the CNA’s and provide education which will considerably allow the CNAs as they also play an essential role in patient care (Howe, 2008). Scholastic divisions have developed programs to teach CNA’s such as Braden scale, good skin care and must turn and reposition every 2 hours to avoid a pressure ulcer. The purpose of this educational program is to educate CNA to prevent pressure ulcers. According to this study “The researchers focused on the CNA as an underutilized resource and sought to educate and utilize the ancillary staff in an effort to empower the CNA through education, enhance communication, improve skin care, and prevent pressure ulcer development (Howe,

In the United States of America the cost to treat a pressure ulcer is $9.1 billion to $11.6 billion annually. Price to treat a single patient ranges from $20,000 to $152,000 and it is estimated that annually 60,000 patients expire due to the complications from pressure ulcers (Berlowit, Lukas, & Parker, 2014). Nurses and CNA’s needs to be more knowledgeable in order to attain patient