OR Manager article published last month

A national magazine about operating-room issues recently featured Minnesota hospitals' work to prevent pressure ulcers, especially those related to lengthy surgeries.

Santa Fe, N.M.-based OR Manager, at www.ormanager.com, covered prevention steps advocated by a Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) statewide advisory group of wound care and perioperative nursing experts. The 4 1/2-page article in the April issue is available here: [PDF].

The advisory group came together to analyze reports of the skin injuries that were made under the state's adverse health event (AHE) reporting system in 2009, the story explained. That data showed that 13 percent of the 122 most serious pressure ulcers were related to long surgical procedures.

"Patients under anesthesia are among our highest risk patients because they cannot move," the piece quoted R.N. Denise Nix, a member of the advisory group and an ostomy and wound care expert, as saying. An Edina consultant, Nix also works part-time for Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, and she is coauthor of "Acute and Chronic Wounds: Current Management Concepts."

The group found the following primary contributing factors for those ulcers: a lack of awareness of risk of skin breakdown by OR teams and a lack of communication of the risk during handoffs; as well as a lack of guidance for determining the types of surgical cases that increase the risk of skin breakdown, the article said. They also found confusion about support surfaces and other practices for preventing pressure ulcers during surgery.

The story discussed solutions to those problems and successful prevention techniques, partly through interviews with Nix and Anne Hanzel, R.N. Hanzel is senior director of perioperative services at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, and she was also a member of the statewide advisory panel.

For example, the advisory group outlined factors that make patients at higher risk for developing pressure ulcers during surgeries, such as undergoing surgery for at least four hours. Another recommendation calls for thorough skin inspections before surgeries.

OR Manager's focus on Minnesota's work is a credit to Minnesota hospitals' leadership on the complicated issue of pressure ulcers, said Julie Apold, MHA director of patient safety.

"Minnesota hospitals are continuing to learn and expand our efforts based on ongoing learnings gained from information revealed through adverse event reporting," she said. "The magazine's attention puts a spotlight on that continued commitment to improving care for patients."

Medicare recently announced it will no longer pay for treatment related to Stage 3 and Stage 4 pressure ulcers that develop during hospital stays.

For more information, contact Apold at (651) 603-3538.