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The AHCPR pressure ulcer infection control recommendations revisited
1Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, USA.
Ostomy/Wound Management
|March 23, 1999
Summary
The 1994 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHCPR) guideline on pressure ulcer infection control needs reassessment. Current evidence, lacking randomized controlled trials, supports maintaining a strength-of-evidence rating of C for its recommendations.
Area of Science:
- Wound care research
- Infection control in healthcare
- Evidence-based practice in medicine
Background:
- The 1994 AHCPR Pressure Ulcer Treatment Guideline offered five infection control recommendations.
- A literature review was conducted to assess evidence published since mid-1993, the cutoff for the original guideline's evidence base.
Framework:
- The review examined evidence supporting the guideline's infection control recommendations.
- Two quasi-experimental studies were identified, prompting a suggestion to revisit the guideline's recommendations.
Implementation:
- No randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were found in the literature review.
- The absence of RCTs necessitates maintaining the original strength-of-evidence rating of C for all five recommendations.
Implications:
- Infection control in chronic wound care is complex and requires further research.
- Pending further research, common-sense, "do-no-harm" interventions are recommended as best practice for pressure ulcer care.