- Hannah Jang, PhD, RN, CNL, PHN
- Anjal Pong, MSN, RN-BC, CNOR
- Chrissie Smith, MSN, RN, CNS, CWOCN
Background and Significance:
About 2.5 million Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries (HAPI) occur annually. HAPIs lead to negative outcomes for patients in the hospital, including longer hospitalization, increased risk of infection, higher likelihood of readmission, increased mortality and increased psychological problems. Hospitals spend over $11 billion annually on complications and treatment of pressure injuries. Research in the area of pediatric pressure injury risk factors and interventions is limited, especially in the surgical population.
Methods and Sample Population:
This project will take place in a newly rebuilt Pediatric Hospital (part of an urban academic medical center) with 9 Operating Rooms (OR), on average 6-8 rooms running per day, within a 228-bed free-standing children’s hospital. The population served on this unit includes patients of all ages with surgery greater than 3 hours and weighing over 15 kg. The increasing incidence and prevalence of HAPIs in the pediatric population in addition to limited research on preventing pediatric pressure injuries in the OR warranted this project to be conducted.
Goals and Aims:
The overall purpose of this project is to decrease the incidence of pressure injuries in the pediatric surgical patient population through education, training, implementation of pressure injury interventions, and appropriate documentation in the electronic health record to address pressure injury care and preventative interventions in the pediatric surgical population. The electronic health record will be utilized to capture data for further analysis and determine trends of pressure injury risk factors and effective patient interventions.