title: A Nurse-Initiated Perioperative Pressure Injury Risk Assessment and Prevention Protocol.
abstract: Pressure injuries negatively affect patients physically, emotionally, and economically. Studies report that pressure injuries occur in 69% of inpatients who have undergone a surgical procedure while hospitalized. In 2012, we created a nurse-initiated, perioperative pressure injury risk assessment measure for our midwestern, urban, adult teaching hospital. We retrospectively applied the risk assessment to a random sample of 350 surgical patients which validated the measure. The prospective use of the risk assessment and prevention measures in 350 surgical patients resulted in a 60% reduction in pressure injuries compared with the retrospective group. Our findings support the use of a multipronged approach for the prevention of health care-associated pressure injuries in the surgical population, which includes assessment of risk, implementation of evidence-based prevention interventions for at-risk patients, and continuation of prevention beyond the perioperative setting to the nursing care unit.
authors.forename: Anita J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Meehan
authors.forename: Nancy R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Beinlich
authors.forename: Tracy L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Hammonds
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D055318:Evidence-Based Nursing; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology* / Q000451:nursing / Q000517:prevention & control*; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses'; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000209:etiology* / Q000451:nursing / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment
keywords: health care–associated pressure injury (HAPI); pressure injury; risk assessment; risk indicators