Turn! Turn! Turn!
To everything there is a reason for avoiding hospital-acquired pressure injuries
October 14, 2024 • 1 minute, 17 seconds to read
This story was published in the Fall 2024 issue of The Washington Nurse.
A time to assess
A time for skin care
A time for nutrition
A time to position and reposition
A time to monitor … and a time to care
To everything, there is a reason
Turn, turn, turn because we care.
Inspired by Pete Seeger’s ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’, based on a verse in the Book of Ecclesiastes
Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI) have been a long-standing challenge to prevent, manage, and monitor
Not only do they significantly impact patients’ quality of life, but they are also very costly to healthcare systems.
The average cost per HAPI is estimated at $11,000, and the United States spent a staggering $26.8 billion (about $82 per person in the U.S.) to treat HAPIs in 2018, according to an article by Nora Warshawsky, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CNE, FAAN in Press Ganey October 2023.
Technology solutions do work
Wearable patient sensors have been found to reduce the occurrence of HAPI by 77% and have been proven to save substantial dollars, according to a study published December 2021 in the international Journal of Health and Economics Management.
The sensors promote better compliance with timing and turning protocols, along with real-time feedback for nurses to monitor the effectiveness of turning protocols to enhance patient care plans.
These sensors are considered best practice in the battle of skin injury prevention.
Resources
The value of nursing preventative strategies in reducing hospital-acquired pressure injuries, Press Ganey, Oct. 20, 2023.
Preventing Pressure Injuries with Nursing Care | Press Ganey
An economic analysis of a wearable patient sensor for preventing hospital-acquired pressure injuries among the acutely ill patients, International Journal of Health and Economics Management, Dec. 21, 2021.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33837491/
Quick Safety 25: Preventing pressure injuries, March 2022, The Joint Commission.
What you need to know about wound offloading, The Wound Pros, May 14, 2024.
https://www.thewoundpros.com/post/what-you-need-to-know-about-wound-offloading
The roadmap to success, hospital-acquired pressure injury, Health Services Advisory Group.
https://www.hsag.com/globalassets/hqic/hapi_roadmap.pdf
Prevention of heel pressure injuries and plantar flexion contractures with use of a heel protector in high-risk neurotrauma, medical, and surgical intensive care units. A randomized controlled trial, Journal of Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nursing,
Sept./Oct. 2017.
The Turn Team Initiative: A hospital acquired pressure injury (HAPI) reduction technique,
Sept. 30, 2020.
https://digitalcommons.providence.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1125&context=other_pubs