title: Evaluating pressure ulcer care by home healthcare nurses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To field test an objective evaluation tool consisting of process-oriented quality indicators for pressure ulcer care, using nursing charts of homecare nurses. These quality indicators were developed by the authors.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Most Japanese homecare nursing agencies are small and to use much of their human and economic resources to improve the care quality is not realistic. A simple and effective system for quality assurance/improvement needs to be considered.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive study design, using the chart reviews of 34 homecare nursing clients from two homecare nursing agencies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nursing charts were evaluated using our quality indicators for pressure ulcer care, and whether the charts pass or not in terms of the practices described in the quality indicator was rated. The pass rates by chart and nurses' self-evaluation were compared, and pass rates by charts were examined. Results.  The evaluation by chart review generally matched with self-evaluations. The pass rates by charts were higher for indicators related to wound treatment than those related to preventive care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Home healthcare nurses could give more attention to pressure ulcer prevention. Regular self-checks of quality indicators may remind the nurses of the importance of prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontological Nursing, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan. nyamamoto.gh@tmd.ac.jp
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamamoto-Mitani
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Katakura
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shinohara
authors.forename: Yoshimi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sonoda
authors.forename: Kunihiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D009731:Nursing Audit; D009737:Nursing Records; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000451:nursing* / Q000517:prevention & control; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care