A historical overview of pressure ulcer literature of the past 35 years.
This article discusses a study of publications on pressure ulcers from 1965 to 1999 using the information available in Medline. Results show that .06% of all articles relate to pressure ulcers. Of all the articles about pressure ulcers, 49% were research articles and 51% were clinical articles. When comparing the total percentage of articles on pressure ulcers to the costs of pressure ulcers in healthcare (1.3% of the total Netherland healthcare budget), one can conclude that clinicians and scientists insufficiently appreciate pressure ulcers as a problem. The number and the proportion of pressure ulcer articles are growing, as well as initiatives to urge researchers studying the same topic to start international working groups, but more research is needed. This article offers insight into the current status of pressure ulcer literature and addresses some reasons for the lack of interest in the pressure ulcer problem.
Halfens
R J
RJ
University of Maastricht, Department of Health Studies, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. r.halfens@zw.unimaas.nl
Haalboom
J R
JR
D015706:Bibliometrics; D005060:Europe; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000266:history*; D011643:Publishing / Q000266:history*; D012106:Research / Q000266:history; D012107:Research Design; D014481:United States