The nursing prevention of pressure sores in hospital and community patients

The main purpose ofthe study was to evaluate the amount of time which was spent in giving preventive pressure area care in both a sample of hospital patients (n = 88) and a sample of community patients (n = 30). Bedfast or chairfast patients were studied from admission to the selected hospital wards or community nursing areas for a period of a maximum of 6 weeks or until they were discharged from care, developed pressure sores, died or became mobile. Data were collected by means of a diary sheet which was designed for use by nurses in the hospital and by nurses and relatives in the community. They were asked to record pressure area care as it was given on the diary sheets. The researcher also collected data about the patients' appetite, Norton score, age, sex and diagnosis. The outcome measure used was whether or not the patient developed a pressure sore, which was defined for this study as a break in the skin due to pressure. Some descriptive analysis ofthe data has been carried out. Results available so far show that a higher percentage of the hospital patients developed pressure sores (29%) than among the community patients studied (20%). The study appears to show that nursing care devoted to the prevention of pressure sores in terms of time and frequency is significantly related to outcome and thus to effectiveness.