Treating, monitoring irritated skin may prevent pressure injuries<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
FRIDAY, Nov. 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Irritated skin is a risk factor for pressure injuries in surgical critical care patients, according to a study published in the Nov. 1 issue of the American Journal of Critical Care<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jenny Alderden, Ph.D., from the University of Utah College of Nursing in Salt Lake City, and colleagues retrospectively reviewed medical records for 5,101 surgical critical care patients at a level I trauma center and academic medical center to identify factors associated with hospital-acquired pressure injuries among surgical critical care patients.<\/p>\n The researchers found that independent risk factors for hospital-acquired pressure injuries included skin irritation (rash or diffuse, nonlocalized redness; odds ratio, 1.788), minimum Braden Scale score (odds ratio, 0.858), and duration of intensive care unit stay before the pressure injury developed (odds ratio, 1.003).<\/p>\n “This study demonstrates the power of using informatics to analyze the vast amounts of data in electronic health records,” Alderden said in a statement. “Critical care nurses routinely conduct head-to-toe skin assessments every 12 hours and document changes in condition in the [electronic health record]. Modern informatics approaches enable us to more easily examine large-scale, real-world data available in the health record to gain insights and improve outcomes.” <\/p>\n