| The development of pressure ulcers is a common and expensive problem within acute care hospitals. Nurses are expected to identify patients at risk for pressure ulcers and provide preventative interventions accordingly. The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to identify what preventative nursing interventions were being used, and to examine relationships between pressure ulcer risk, nursing interventions, and pressure ulcer presence in two acute care facilities. Bloch's (1975) Framework for the Evaluation of Nursing Care and Braden's (1987) Conceptual Schema for the Development of Pressure Sores provided the conceptual framework for the study.; Eighty-four adult patients were randomly selected from inpatients in eight high risk hospital units. Data were collected by observation and record review using three instruments: the Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Sore Risk, the Braden Skin Assessment Tool, and the Prevost Pressure Ulcer Prevention Checklist.; Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample and the nursing interventions used. The Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient (rho) was used to examine the relationships between risk potential and nursing interventions, and between nursing interventions and pressure ulcer presence.; Twenty-six different interventions were used on the subjects with a total of 568 interventions employed, however only 359 were documented in patient records. Spearman correlations revealed significant relationships between pressure ulcer risk and nursing interventions (rho = {dollar}-{dollar}.6273, {dollar}p<.001{dollar}) and between nursing interventions and pressure ulcer presence (rho =.4114, {dollar}p<.001{dollar}). The findings indicate that nurses were providing interventions tailored to the subjects' level of risk and skin status, even though no formal risk assessment tool was in use by the staff at the two facilities. Unfortunately, the nursing documentation did not support the intensity of nursing interventions provided. |
