Healthcare Setting Essay

In the healthcare setting today decubitus ulcerations ( push sore) represent an on-going challenge to health care professionals providing care to patients in different health-care settings. The incidence of decubitus ulcers estimates 1 to 3 meg people in the United States each year. The subject area Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) defines prevalence as a proportion of persons who have a pressure ulcer at a specific point in time.Prevalence of pressure sores in the United States is widespread in all settings, with estimates of 10% to 18% in acute care, 2.3% to 28% in long-term care, and 0% to 29% in abode care.The burden of having a pressure ulcer is juicy, in physical, emotional, and financial terms. Data from 1999 indicate that the cost of treating pressure ulcers may range from $5 to $8.5 billion annually, and this equates to somewhat $9.2 to $15.6 billion in 2008. The AHRQ reported that pressure ulcer-related infirmaryizations ranged from 13 to 14 days and cost $16, 755 to $20,430, compared with the average mystify of 5 days and cost of approximately $10,000. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid operate reports that the cost of treating a pressure ulcer in acute care (as a secondary diagnosis) is $43,180 per hospital stay. Contributing cost factors include increased aloofness of stay because of pressure sore complications, such as pain, infection, high-tech support surfaces, and decreased functional ability.Barbara Braden collaborated with Nancy Bergstrom in 1987 to develop Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Ulcer Risk. The take of the scale is to help health professionals, especially nurses, to judge a patients risk of development a pressure ulcer. In their study, the tool was tried in a multisite clinical trial involving hospitals, Veterans memorial tablet (VA) medical centers and skilled nursing facilities. This research has proved to be effective in identifying and preventing pressure sores in high risk patient population. The Br aden Scale is this instant the most widely tools used for predicting the risk of development of pressure sores. The Braden scale assesses a patients risk of developing a pressure ulcer by examining six criteria i.e. sensory perception, Moisture, Activity, Mobility, Nutrition and crash and Shear. Based on the findings of the Braden scale strategies could be engaged to prevent the development of pressure sores in high risk.