title: The quality of pressure ulcer prediction and prevention in home health care.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of pressure ulcer prediction and prevention in home health care. Randomly selected Medicare-certified home care agencies in four midwestern states were surveyed. The overall response rate was 44% (n = 128). Approximately half (57.8%) of the responding agencies assessed all patients for pressure ulcer risk upon admission; another 4.7% assessed only chair or bed-bound patients. Clinical nursing judgment was the most commonly (72%) used method for assessing risk; only 21% of the agencies used a validated tool such as the Braden Scale or the Norton Scale to identify those at risk. Approximately one third of the reporting agencies had prediction and/or prevention policies. Only 18.0% of home health care agencies identified recommended interventions in a pressure ulcer prevention protocol. Findings suggest opportunities for improvement in pressure ulcer prediction and prevention practice in home health care.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, The University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA. sbergquist@kumc.edu
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bergquist
mesh_terms: D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D015146:Midwestern United States; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000451:nursing* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric