Pressure Injury Prevention in an Acute Care Setting

Problem: Research shows that registered nurses frequently forget to turn their patients in a timely manner to prevent pressure ulcers. The turning of patients is key to reducing the number of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers every year. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a visual aid related to pressure injury prevention on ICU step-down registered nurses. Methods: A convenience sample of ICU stepdown registered nurses’ completed an eight question Likert style pre-survey about nurse’s knowledge and feelings towards patient positioning, and a five-question post-test survey following implementation of a new visual aid. The visual aid included a table for every two hours where the nurse could write in what position the patient was turned to. Results: It is expected that the visual aid will increase nurse’s knowledge of pressure injury prevention and increase use of patient turns as a preventive measure. The visual aid should prove to be effective by increasing nurses’ action of turning their patients to reduce pressure ulcers. Conclusion: Based on the nurses’ expected responses and actions, it would be quite useful to implement a visual aid to assist in the turning of patients to prevent pressure injuries