PICOT Question Examples for Pressure Ulcers

PICOT: Prevention pressure ulcers
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P-Population- Bed bound Patients in hospitals under long-term care and those who have undergone surgery
I-Intervention- Does repositioning and tilting every 2 hours
C-Comparison- in comparison to repositioning every 4 hours
O-Outcome- Prevent risk of pressure ulcers
T-Time frame- Time of hospitalization
Does frequency of repositioning patients in long term facilities every two hours reduce risk of pressure ulcers in comparison to 4 hours during time of hospitalization?
Even though, repositioning has been the standard care practice for patients with pressure ulcers, there is a concern that the practice does not relieve pressure in all areas. There is also recognition that lack of knowledge on how to apply repositioning and tilting might be hampering efforts towards preventing the condition for patients in long-term facilities. Even though, repositioning is clinically appropriate for most patients including disable ones, there is less consensus on the impact of pressure redistributing surfaces and patient repositioning (Mile et al., 2013). Repositioning should ideally result to redistribution of pressure or relieve of pressure, and the more times a patient is repositioned the more likely they there will be less impact of pressure. This notion results from the fact that pressure is major causative agent of pressure ulcers, and hence relieving pressure lowers the possibility of patients developing pressure ulcer (Miles, 2013). Nonetheless, there is a challenge on the best through which nurses can relieve pressure in high-pressure areas and hence where possible it is necessary to use repositioning technology.
If nurses understand areas that are associated with high pressure then it is easier to use patient repositioning to prevent pressure ulcers. Pressure mapping technology can help pinpoint areas that are at risk of high interface pressure where patients are in contact with the mattress (Thurman, 2011). Increased adoption of such technology is likely to improve nurses’ knowledge in assessing pressure build up for bed-bound patients in long-term facilities. ...