Utilizing Braden Scale and Glasgow coma Scale to Identify Risk Factors for Developing Pressure Ulcers in Jordanian Care Settings

Background: Pressure ulcers adversely affect patients’ quality of life by increasing pain, altering body image, decreasing productivity, and increasing health-care costs.  Pressure ulcers described as an indicator of the quality of care provided by healthcare settings

Objective:  Identify the specific factors that placing patients at risk for developing pressure ulcers grade 2 or worse, and determine the relationship between patient level of consciousness and developing pressure ulcer.
Methods: Adult patients who were admitted to the following care units: surgical, cardiac, ICU, neurological, intermediate for more than 5 days in Jordanian care settings.
Prospective design was used in this study, which conducted in long-term care and acute care settings. Data collected between January 2009 and July 2009.
Tools were demographic chart, skin assessment form, Braden scale and Glasgow coma scale.
Each patient was assessed more than one time; first, upon admission and second upon discharge or death, or after 2 weeks if the patient was still in intensive care.
Results: : from 25 facilities, 220 patients had pressure ulcers. Significant relationships were found between pressure ulcer development and the following factors: length of stay, fracture, public hospitals, intermediate care unit, no special prevention equipment, urine incontinence, fecal incontinence, history of stroke, age, and diabetes. Furthermore, significant association was found between low score on Glasgow coma scale and developing pressure ulcer.

Conclusions:

Knowing who is at risk is critical to determining what type of intervention will be necessary to prevent the development of a pressure ulcer. To improve clinical practice and the quality of patient care in Jordanian care settings, use of these two scales may decrease the incidence rate of pressure ulcers and facilitate the implementation of pressure ulcer prevention interventions