Pressure ulcers in a neuroscience population: A secondary analysis of prevalence, severity and clinical risk factors.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to describe and compare, in a tertiary care setting, the prevalence and severity of pressure ulcers in the neuroscience population to a non-neuroscience population. This study was guided by a conceptual schema that provided a physiological basis for the development of pressure ulcers. The presence of contributory clinical risk factors was compared between the two populations. The neuroscience population included patients admitted to the neurology and neurosurgery services (40 bed unit) while the remainder of the hospital population comprised the non-neuroscience population. A secondary analysis method was used to compare data obtained from four annual pressure ulcer prevalence studies conducted from 1993--1996. The instruments used were the Demographic and Clinical Profile Form, a Prevalence Grid and the Braden Scale for Pressure Sore Risk. Trend analysis and yearly comparisons were conducted with a level of statistical significance set at p = 0.05 level with a clinically important difference of ten percent or greater. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)