Evidence Based Nursing Practice: Pressure Ulcers

Jane Smith

Research and Scholarship for Evidence-Based Practice

March 10, 2010

Evidence-Based Nursing Practice: Pressure Ulcers

The primary goals for conducting nursing research are to generate new knowledge to promote positive outcomes for patients, enhance quality and cost-effectiveness of care, improve the healthcare delivery system, and validate the credibility of the nursing profession through evidence-based practice (Schmidt & Brown, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to explore the practice-related problem of pressure ulcers and the importance of the problem in the nursing profession.
Practice Setting Problem
This causes hospitals to loose large amounts of money. Also, the hospital stay of a patient can be dramatically increased by days due to the primary or secondary diagnosis of a pressure ulcer.

Differences in Care Based on Evidence
The most important factor in preventing pressure ulcers is recognizing the risk. The Braden Scale, developed in the 1980s by nurses Barbara Braden and Nancy Bergstrom, was developed to help nurses determine patients’ risk of developing pressure ulcers (Stotts & Gunningberg, 2007). The Braden scale only takes about one minute to complete, and while the use of it alone will not prevent pressure ulcers, the findings will tell the nurse that preventative strategies need to take place. There are five different risk categories involved in the Braden scale which tells the nurse that they need zero interventions to the maximum amount of interventions.
Another evidence-based practice tool to prevent pressure ulcers is a skin care bundle that is implemented when a braden scale score is less than 18 (Best Practice, 2010). When patients are known to be high risk for pressure ulcers the skin care bundle is enforced. This includes keeping the head of the bed less than 30 degrees, turning the patient every two hours, keeping heels elevated off the bed surface,