Nursing Assignment: Putting It All Together Project

Putting it all together Project
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Putting it all together Project
Part I
Pressure Ulcer is common among hospitalized individuals. This is a skin condition that is commonly known as bed sores where the skin of the patient and its underlying tissues break due to pressure that result from prolonged non-movement of the body. The condition causes discomfort to patients specifically whose medical conditions hinder them from changing their positions. According to data and statistics, preventing pressure ulcers has proven to be a hard task in the long-term care. Pressure ulcers are preventable but are painful and debilitating which may reduce the quality of life and cause septic infections as well as premature deaths.
From the interview with the nurse, it was clear that pressure ulcers are common problems in the long-term care facilities and any patient suffering from pressure ulcers is likely to be admitted in the facility. From her perspective, the prevalence of pressure ulcers among the long-term care patients is 10% with most of them being in stage II. This prevalence was her estimation. I also inquired on how often those who are admitted without the condition develop it. She asserted that 20% of the patients develop pressure ulcers within 6 weeks of admission. For general information, I also inquired who are at higher risks of developing the condition and why. She explained that the elderly people are at higher risk of developing the condition due to various factors such impaired morbidity and poor nutritional status. Other factors that contribute to pressure ulcer risks within the healthcare setting include incomplete implementation of evidence-based pressure prevention measures, poor staffing, poor nutritional management and polypharmacy. She also hinted that there is poor communication between the relevant authorities, researchers and the organization. According to her perception, communication is vital as it helps the organization access resources that can help in solving the issue and compare their results with other institutions for improvement purposes. It was an in-depth interview with educational opportunities, electronic uses and current pressure ulcer prevention strategies being the primary themes of the interview.
Educational opportunities
The does hinted that pressure ulcer prevention is available to the staff at both facilities. However, she appeared to have different opinions in the manner it was delivered. Her opinions differed due to the different facilities within the organization based on the level of technology that is involved. For example, she hinted that in facilities that has low information technology sophistication, education was only accessed through Silver Chair, which is computer-based education program. According to her not much is offered since only one computer is available for the whole staff.
Electronic uses
This involves the use of electronic devices for record keeping and communication purposes within the organization. The nurse hinted that in low information technology sophistication facilities, communication is through telephones and fax machines. In these facilities, paper medical record is used as compared to high information technology sophistication facilities where communication and record keeping has been advanced. However, she hinted that only the leaders are allowed to use the computers because they are password protected. The other staff relies on telephone and fax machines for communication and result communication.
Prevention strategies
The nurse hinted that, they used all the prevention strategies because ones a direct care identifies a problem with the skin, immediate actions are taken. According to her, the available evidence-based pressure prevention strategies such as patient and sheet turning are well implemented within the institution. However, she hinted that other strategies are normally identified and implemented by the staff based on an individual knowledge and judgment.
Part II
Citation of Evidence

Research Question

Type of Resource

Description of Sample

Results or Conclusion

Yap, T. L., Kennerly, S. M., Bergstrom, N., Hudak, S. L., & Horn, S. D. (2016). An Evidence-Based Cue-Selection Guide and Logic Model to Improve Pressure Ulcer Prevention in Long Term Care. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 31(1), 75–83. http://doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000128

This was a review paper that focused on synthesizing all the recent researches to develop a unified dynamic model that will promote quality improvement.

A systematic review

This paper has synthesized some of the recent researches that have supported cueing innovations in supporting the best pressure ulcers prevention practices. Therefore, this paper has unified them into a dynamic model that can facilitate effective staff implementation of pressure ulcer prevention programs.

The authors have concluded by saying that the standardized protocol that has been described in the paper will allow the management to monitor how work is performed and to ensure that the nursing staff is fully engaged in the whole process and focus on eliminating wastage of the available resources.

Niederhauser, A., Lukas, C. V., Parker, V., Ayello, E. A., Zulkowski, K., & Berlowitz, D. (2012). Comprehensive programs for preventing pressure ulcers: a review of the literature. Advances in skin & wound care, 25(4), 167-188.

The review had no primary question but rather an objective of examining the available evidence that supports the use of combined interventions in the prevention of pressure ulcers.

Systematic Literature Review

A wide range of literature that describes multifaceted pressure ulcer prevention programs was conducted. The articles that were reviewed described an intervention program that has been implemented in long-term care facilities or acute care settings. The review also included articles that had incorporated more than one intervention program, and involvement of a multidisciplinary team as well and the outcomes of the interventions.

The authors conclude that there is a wide range of literature that is describing multidisciplinary interventions that can be used to prevent pressure ulcers in both long-term care and acute care sett...