Effect of Applying Nursing Interventions for Preventing Pressure Ulcers among Hospitalized Geriatric Patients

Although there is extensive published information on the prevalence of pressure ulcers in many
countries of the world, yet there is a lack of researches concerning the application of nursing
interventions for their prevention in hospitals. Objective: Determine the effect of applying nursing
interventions for preventing pressure ulcers among hospitalized geriatric patients. Setting: The study
was carried out in Tishreen University Hospital, Lattakia, Syria. Subjects: The study subjects
comprised 40 hospitalized geriatric patients. These were divided equally into two groups: study and
control. Each group comprised 20 elders. Elders in the control group were left to the hospital routine
while those in the study group were subjected to nursing interventions for two weeks. The applied
nursing interventions include reposition schedule, use pillows to protect bone prominences, proper
bed making twice daily, prevention of skin moisture, adequate fluid intake, care for elders' hygiene
and use cream on bone prominences. Tools: Three tools were used for data collection: the sociodemographic
and clinical structure interview schedule, Skin assessment observation check list and the
Braden scale for predicting pressure ulcer risk. Results: The implemented nursing interventions had a
positive effect in preventing the development of pressure ulcer among elders' in the study group where
the majority of the patients showed no pressure ulcers or no sign of pressure ulcer after two weeks
while pressure ulcers were observed among more than two thirds of the patients in the control group.
Conclusion: The program succeeded in preventing the development of pressure ulcers.
Recommendations: Hospitals' policy should enforce the application of nursing intervention measures
to prevent the occurrence of pressure ulcer.