Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Managing Skin Integrity

Running Head: PICOT
Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Managing Skin Integrity
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Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Managing Skin Integrity
Identifying a Problem
Pressure ulcer prevention and skin integrity management have not been consistently recognized as a priority in American health care; resulting in all levels of the system being plagued by pressure ulcer development in their clinical settings. Nursing homes, in particular, have been found to have more than 1 in 10 nursing home residents or a pressure ulcer prevalence rates as high as 28% (Park-Lee & Caffrey, 2009). And, according to Russo & Elixhauser (2003), the charge per stay in this clinical setting, can range from $35,500 to $37,800 per resident. Moreover, the physiological and psychological cost, in the form of pain and suffering born by the recipient of health care services, is even more profound; because pressure ulcers can be a primary cause of death.
At the nursing home level, in particular, the Healthy People 2010 mandates the prevention of pressure ulcers (Health Care Financing Administration [HCFA], 2000). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CCMS, 2004) released the revised regulation tag number F-314 that mandates, facility must ensure that a resident who enters the facility without pressure ulcers does not develop pressure ulcers. Managing skin integrity should be a primary goal in health care management, to assure good health and/or prevent detrimental complications during acute or chronic care.
In our current health care environment, a nursing home that demonstrates substandard quality of care faces threats and adversarial forces from their health care environment. The main focus of this PICOT stud...