Nursing procedures to care patient with pressure ulcer

Abstract

The pressure ulcer can be defined as a localized area of cellular necrosis resulting from direct pressure on the skin between bony prominence and hard surface for prolonged period. Its prevention and treatment is a great challenge for nursing. Risk factors which can cause pressure ulcer are external (pressure, shear, friction) and internal (impaired nutrition, increasing age, urinary or fecal incontinence; impaired mobility, body mass - less adipose tissue, lesser bony prominence protection; disease - diabetes, hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, cancer and others; medicine use - antibiotic, corticoid, amine and others. To show how nursing procedures should be performed to an individual with pressure ulcer, we decided to carry out a case study using a hypothetical-deductive model of a patient with spinal cord injury. We conclude that it is important that a daily established routine of techniques and types of dressings for treatment of sacral pressure ulcers should be adopted, as uniform procedures will cooperate for adequate wound management and follow up, providing better prognosis and making easier nursing actions.