Emergency patients often spend long periods resting in a single position, which potentially causes hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. Research shows that the condition affects surgical patients more than other patient categories. Therefore, it is often associated with immobility and maintaining a single rest position, thus blocking essential blood vessels (Aloweni et al., 2019). This eventually causes pressure build-up and possible rapturing of blood vessels causing HAPU. This research aims to examine the impact of prevention intervention practices on the condition’s prevalence among emergency patients. The research involves an experimentation by dividing patients in an emergency room into two groups; a subject group (exposed to prevention interventions) and a control group (not exposed to prevention interventions). The resulting impacts of patient intervention are determined by comparing the data on HAPU rate between the two sample groups.
Problem
In emergency department patients (P), does the HAPU prevention intervention (I) as compared to usual care (C) reduces the incidence of HAPU (O) on the third day of patient stay (T)?
Discussion of Pilot Project
This research aims to evaluate the impacts of prevention intervention measures of HAPU on emergency patients. The approach utilizes support surfaces, more frequent repositioning of patients, and an integrated skin examination. These intervention measures aim to prevent and examine possible causes of HAPU. The study also identifies patients in vulnerable conditions and provides measures for more frequent care among this population. For instance, patients in complete immobility are repositioned every 2 hours, while those with limited mobility are repositioned less frequently. Additionally, patients at a higher risk of pressure-related conditions are provided with frequent care compared to those with no pressure-related conditions due to the predisposition to HAPU. Additionally, patient care promoted the integration of several techniques to improve the efficiency of the process. For instance, nurses can apply the skin examination, use support surfaces, and reposition patients in a single patient’s treatment plan.
Supporting Evidence
The approach to the research includes randomly grouping patients in an emergency setup into two groups; the prevention intervention group and the control group. The control group comprises patients undergoing usual routines without new intervention measures. The patients in this category receive the “usual” treatment plan. The two groups are randomly selected without any criteria. As such, the research results rely on chance and are reliable towards proving or disapproving the hypothesis that prevention intervention measures reduce HAPU cases in emergency rooms. Although the prevention intervention measures aim to improve quality of life and health, ethical standards must be met when dealing with human subjects. Ethical guidelines include informing the test patients of the issues involved, the benefits and possible negative impacts of the research. After the introduction/ unfreezing phase, necessary training will be required to equip nurses with the necessary skills and knowledge (Hidayat et al., 2020). Other activities involved include hiring personnel and patent care provision with respect to the categories. The major stakeholders of the prevention intervention will include nurses and emergency patients. All patients will be included in the research as long as they provide consent.
Implications for Practice
Emergency patients are often exposed to secondary conditions that may result from hospital practices or lack of practice. HAPU may develop after admission of a patient, thus increasing treatment time, cost, and complexity. Prevention interventions will ensure fewer cases are reported since frequent repositioning of patients ensures that blockage of blood vessels is easily avoided. Additionally, physical examination of their skin ensures a proper monitoring system. These measures prevent patients from HAPU and thus improve the quality of health.
References
1. Aloweni, F., Ang, S. Y., Fook‐Chong, S., Agus, N., Yong, P., Goh, M. M., Tucker-Kellogg, L., & Soh, R. C. (2019). A prediction tool for hospital‐acquired pressure ulcers among surgical patients: Surgical pressure ulcer risk score. International Wound Journal, 16(1), 164-175. Web.
2. Hidayat, A. T., Hariyati, T. S., Muhaeriwati, T. (2020). Applicability of Lewin’s change management model for optimization management function in nursing delegation between head nurse and team leader: A mini project in Jakarta military hospital. International Journal of Nursing and Health Services, 3(4), 471-478. Web.