Preventing Pressure Ulcers/injuries
Patients in the hospital are at risk of developing pressure ulcers/injuries, or bedsores, when their skin is exposed to unrelieved pressure. Pressure ulcers continue to be the most reported adverse health event. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), each year more than 2.5 million people in the U.S. develop pressure ulcers. The injuries to the skin and underlying tissue are painful and increase risk for infection or other complications.
Minnesota hospitals are hard at work to eliminate serious pressure ulcers for patients and great progress has been made. Since 2003, hospitals have been reporting stage III and stage IV pressure ulcers to the state. Beginning in 2007, hospitals also started reporting unstageable pressure ulcers.
In 2007, MHA initiated the Call to Action framework around skin safety, resulting in the SAFE SKIN road map and toolkit, which provides hospitals with evidence-based resources to prevent pressure ulcers/injuries. MHA then launched the SAFE SKIN 2.0 road map in 2011 and SAFE SKIN 3.0 road map in 2015.
In 2017, experts from across the state came together to streamline MHA pressure ulcer/injury resources and created a tiered pressure ulcer/injury road map. This road map contains best practice recommendations for interdisciplinary team involvement, prevention in critical care and the operating room, as well as prevention of medical device-related pressure ulcers.
Download the Pressure Ulcer/Pressure Injury road map.