Nursing interventions to prevent pressure ulcers in intensive care units : syst...

• Author(s): Lage, Isabel ; Novais, Rui ; Magalh??es, Maria Manuela Almendra ; Vila??a, Sim??o ; Ara??jo, Odete
• Date: 2014
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/29938
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Intensive care units; Preventive measure; Pressure ulcers; Nursing interventions; Systematic review
• Document Type: Conference Object
• Language: English

Description

Publicada na "Revista Sa??de P??blica", vol. 48, nr. spec. (May 2014) ; ISSN 0034-8910 , ISSN 1518-8787 (online) Introduction: It is estimated that Pressure Ulcer (PU) ranges from 0.4% to 38% in acute care worldwide, causing high costs in treatments, delaying functional recovery and deferring discharge hospital. Objective: To identify and synthesize primary studies which comprehend interventions focused on prevention of PU in critical care units. Methods: A systematic review followed PICOS method in PUBMED database and in gray literature. 922 articles were identified, 26 retrieved, 5 of which were included based on the inclusion criteria established by the authors, i.e., adults (+18) in critical care units, high risk of development of PU and clinical trials designs. Studies were assessed for risk of bias in seven domains. Results: Five papers met the inclusion criteria. The interventions used were heterogeneous and multi-faceted. Most delivered solely by nurses and were based on the use of devices (mattress) or on the impact of a nutritional formula enriched with several components. The number of irreversible heel pressure ulcers was lower with devices. A diet enriched with some components was also associated with a significantly lower occurrence of new pressure ulcer in critically ill patients. Conclusions: The non-pharmacological interventions at critical care units are a key area considering its potential in PU prevention. Further research should be developed in this field to keep gold standards of quality in critical care units.