title: Pressure ulcer prevention: making a difference across a health authority?
abstract: Pressure ulcers (PUs), their cause and prevention have been discussed in the literature for many decades. Their prevention and management has been the core of a tissue viability nurse's daily clinical and strategic workload. The important point to acknowledge is that not all PUs can be prevented but it is believed most of them can and all preventative measures must be implemented and evaluated. Initial efforts focused on establishing a baseline of incidence and prevalence. More recently, the Department of Health has proposed that PUs could be eliminated in 95% of all NHS patients and incentivised the measurement of PUs and other harms by use of the NHS Safety Thermometer through the introduction of a new initiative. A research company was commissioned to explore which communications interventions would be effective in helping health professionals to prevent and treat PUs. A campaign was subsequently set in motion to educate and inform clinical staff on the cause and prevention of PUs.
authors.affiliation: East and North Herts NHS Trust.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guy
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Downie
authors.forename: Lyn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McIntyre
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peters
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015995:Prevalence; D015980:Public Health Practice; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology