Pressure sore risk assessment in palliative care

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care
• Tissue Viability
• Nursing Practice

Background:

• Pressure sore prevention is crucial in palliative care for holistic patient well-being.
• Limited data exists on pressure sore incidence and risk assessment tool usage in palliative settings.
• Balancing patient comfort with pressure sore prevention presents unique challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a specific pressure sore risk assessment tool for palliative care patients.
• To establish risk thresholds (low, medium, high, very high) tailored to this patient group.
• To support nurses in maintaining patient quality of life while preventing pressure damage.

Main Methods:

• Development of the Hunters Hill Marie Curie Centre pressure sore risk assessment tool within a specialist unit.
• Validation through comparative analysis of experienced nurses' professional judgment against numerical risk scores.
• Assessment conducted on 291 patients, involving 529 risk assessment events.

Main Results:

• The study identified distinct risk thresholds for palliative care patients: low, medium, high, and very high risk.
• The validated tool aims to guide clinical decision-making in pressure sore prevention.
• Further evaluation of inter-rater reliability for the new tool is ongoing.

Conclusions:

• The developed risk assessment tool is a valuable addition to pressure sore prevention strategies in palliative care.
• Effective risk assessment supports nurses in managing comfort and preventing pressure sores.
• The tool contributes to enhancing the quality of life for patients and their families during end-of-life care.