Executive Summary
Mary Job
Grand Canyon University
NRS 451 V
Dinwiddie Sandra
April, 22, 2012

Pressure ulcer prevention (PUP) in surgical patients has become a major interest in acute care hospitals with the increased focus on patient safety and quality of care. A pressure ulcer is any area of skin or underlying tissue that has been damaged by unrelieved pressure or pressure in combination with friction and shear. Pressure ulcers are caused due to diminished blood supply which in turn leads to decreased oxygen and nutrient delivery to the affected tissues (Tschannen, Bates, Talsma, &Guo, 2012). Pressure ulcers can cause extreme discomfort and often lead to serious, life threatening infections, which substantially increase the …show more content…
Studies show that the uses of high specification foam mattress are likely to cost less overall and more effective than standard hospital mattress. For my budget justification I will be using an example from a research conducted in the University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) on four different patient groups. A standard hospital mattress range from £39 to £ 62 and high specification foam mattresses range from £ 97 to £ 422 and overlay cost for operating tables range from £ 100 to £ 300. The pooled estimate of the four studies yielded a relative risk of
0.29 (95% CI 0.19–0.43), or a relative reduction in pressure ulcer incidence of 71% (95% CI 57–81%). Calculations were based on the total costs and total number of pressure ulcers that would develop using high- specification foam mattress and standard hospital mattress. The cost of providing a standard hospital mattress for a100 patient episodes was only £11, whereas the cost of providing a high specification foam mattress was higher at £57. However the incidence of pressure ulcers and the treatment cost are lower with high-specification foam mattress. In a group 100 patients where 20 developed a pressure ulcer only six would do so with a high-specification hospital mattress. For example in a group of 100 patients, where 20 developed pressure ulcers the cost of treating them was £ 750 x 20 = £ 15,000, in patients cared for on a standard hospital mattress, whereas for patients cared on