Introduction
It is hard to disagree that the area of healthcare is one of the most significant in the U.S., meaning that medical workers have to be skilled, educated, knowledgeable, and qualified to provide high-quality services. Unfortunately, a number of severe issues do not allow providers to improve patient outcomes. There are cases when healthcare workers address their patients’ conditions but allow other illnesses or concerning states to develop.
While nurses have always been required to pay attention to specific concerns, barriers like the lack of staff members, education, training, time, or attention might prevent them from showing great results. One such healthcare issue is the growing rate of decubitus ulcers, also known as bedsores or pressure ulcers. Considering the many negative effects of this problem, the proposed evidence-based intervention to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers is staff education, which has been implemented to address a similar healthcare concern.
Problem Statement
To begin with, to identify the gap between the current state and desired state after the implementation of the evidence into practice, it is essential to describe the concern in question. According to research, bedsores or pressure ulcers are areas of necrosis of skin, muscle, and, in some cases, bone tissue that occur with prolonged compression and impaired blood flow (Afzali Borojeny et al., 2020). As a rule, they appear during prolonged contact with a solid surface, sometimes combined with friction or shear. Patients with excess weight or severe exhaustion are especially susceptible to them, as indicated by (Afzali Borojeny et al., 2020).
In the clinical setting, decubitus ulcers are considered to be a rather significant issue since they cause severe psychological, social, and physical problems for patients (Zhang et al., 2021). They include pain, poor self-image, restricted social life and daily activities, reduced functional ability and mobility, emotional problems, and mood changes. As for hospitals, bedsores are a major economic burden since they require high treatment costs and longer lengths of stay.
To make it easier for both patients and hospitals, a special evidence-based approach should be identified. According to James and Abraham (2020), medical staff lacks knowledge about adequate ways to reduce the incidence of bedsores development. Nurses often cannot identify those at risk of getting decubitus ulcers or forget to make timely assessments, reposition the clients, and remind those capable of moving, such as patients in wheelchairs, to change their position frequently.
Therefore, it is required that medical staff receives access to adequate training programs to achieve improvement in their knowledge and skills (Kim et al., 2020). Currently, hospitals face higher rates of decubitus ulcers: “It is estimated that about 2.5 million hospitalizations in the United States are due to pressure ulcers” (Afzali Borojeny et al., 2020, p. 1). After the implementation of the proposed intervention, healthcare facilities are expected to show a decreased number of bedsores cases, which will enhance patient outcomes and reduce medical costs.
Documenting the Identified Need
Statistics and credible facts can help prove the need to address pressure ulcers as a severe healthcare issue. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “pressure sores affect the health of nearly 1 million populations every year in the United States” (as cited in James & Abraham, 2020, p. 4). Further, Afzali Borojeny et al. (2020) mention that “the mortality rates from this disease are 2 to 6 times as much as from other diseases, with 60,000 deaths annually due to this complication” (p. 1). After cardiovascular conditions and cancers, decubitus ulcers rank third among the most costly diseases (Afzali Borojeny et al., 2020). Patients with bedsores face increased risks of infection, as well as require prolonged hospital stays or rehospitalization (Kim et al., 2020). They also suffer from pain and can develop depression due to the need to stay in the clinic or manage this condition in addition to their initial medical concern.
Since staff education is proposed as an evidence-based intervention, it is essential to review how this approach has been used to address a similar issue. For example, patient falls is another healthcare concern that poses a significant threat and appears partly due to medical workers’ unawareness and failure to identify at-risk clients (Morris et al., 2022). Research shows that the improvement of staff knowledge and skills results in a noticeable reduction in patient falls (Ojo & Thiamwong, 2022; Shaw et al., 2020).
Ojo and Thiamwong (2022) found that “fall prevention programs with education components specific for older adults and nursing staff resulted in positive outcomes” (p. 417). When educated about risk assessment strategies and ways to prevent falls, medical staff plays a more successful role in decreasing the incidence of this concern (Morris et al., 2022). Therefore, training programs for medical workers should be similarly effective when addressing decubitus ulcers.
Supporting the Proposed Evidence-Based Intervention
Eventually, it is important to provide evidence supporting the effectiveness of the proposed intervention in addressing precisely the medical concern in question. For example, in their study, James and Abraham (2020) emphasize the urgency and need to solve the problem of bedsores and highlight the usefulness of a structured teaching program in educating nurses. The authors state that training can allow medical workers to better adhere to their facilities’ guidelines and methods, such as the use of the SSKIN care bundle (James & Abraham, 2020). This study’s findings contribute to the efforts to enhance national health rates as the article offers to introduce advanced education that will make caregivers more aware of decubitus ulcer prevention.
Other credible resources also support the value of staff education. Thus, Afzali Borojeny et al. (2020) state that “efficient training of workforce should be incorporated into the priorities of health care systems across the globe” (p. 5). In the study by Ebi et al. (2019), a lack of staff training is among “the most commonly cited perceived barriers to practice pressure ulcer prevention,” so increasing their education contributes greatly to the issue’s elimination (para. 3). The same recommendations are offered by Kim et al. (2020). Therefore, there is enough evidence to support the proposed intervention.
Conclusion
To conclude, pressure ulcers are a severe healthcare problem that decreases patient outcomes and satisfaction, results in a growth in client and provider stress rates, and increases hospital costs and stays. Although nurses can play a significant role in preventing and addressing the development of decubitus ulcers, they often lack the required skills and knowledge. The proposed evidence-based intervention is staff education, and the same solution has been implemented to reduce the prevalence of patient falls. Research shows that with adequate training, medical workers are better informed about bedsores and can contribute to the reduction of such cases.
References
Afzali Borojeny, L., Albatineh, A. N., Hasanpour Dehkordi, A., & Ghanei Gheshlagh, R. (2020). The incidence of pressure ulcers and its associations in different wards of the hospital: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 11(171). Web.
Ebi, W. E., Hirko, G. F., & Mijena, D. A. (2019). Nurses’ knowledge to pressure ulcer prevention in public hospitals in Wollega: A cross-sectional study design. BMC Nursing, 18(20). Web.
James, J., & Abraham, R. P. (2020). Effect of education intervention on knowledge and practice on SSKIN care bundle pressure ulcer prevention. International Journal of Nursing Care, 8(2), 4–9. Web.
Kim, G., Park, M., & Kim, K. (2020). The effect of pressure injury training for nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Advances in Skin & Wound Care, 33(3), 1-11. Web.
Morris, M. E., Webster, K., Jones, C., Hill, A. M., Haines, T., McPhail, S., Kiegaldie, D., Slade, S., Jazayeri, D., Heng, H., Shorr, R., Carey, L., Barker, A., & Cameron, I. (2022). Interventions to reduce falls in hospitals: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Age and Ageing, 51(5). Web.
Ojo, E. O., & Thiamwong, L. (2022). Effects of nurse-led fall prevention programs for older adults: A systematic review. Pacific Rim International Journal of Nursing Research, 26(3), 417–431. Web.
Shaw, L., Kiegaldie, D. & Farlie, M. K. (2020). Education interventions for health professionals on falls prevention in health care settings: A 10-year scoping review. BMC Geriatrics, 20(460). Web.
Zhang, X., Zhu, N., Li, Z., Xie, X., Liu, T., & Ouyang, G. (2021). The global burden of decubitus ulcers from 1990 to 2019. Scientific Reports, 11(1). Web.