The pressure is on: midwives and decubitus ulcers

Research regarding pressure area care and management in nursing extends back many years, but remains relevant and cited today. With relevant knowledge, midwives can help prevent the development of pressure sores in the maternity setting. Clinical governance and risk management should ensure that the incidence and occurrence of pressure sores in the midwifery arena is reported and fed into appropriate audit analysis at local, regional and national levels. Midwives need to seriously consider the implications of modern midwifery care and management in relation to the development of pressure sores in our population. Labour suite, high dependency, ward and community areas should include guidelines for the prevention, treatment and management of pressure sores, including mattress policies. Prophylactic measures and assessment scores could be incorporated into partogram documentation in the labour suite and as part of postoperative documentation in the ward environment for women who have undergone caesarean section. Trusts may find that a link midwife liasing with tissue viability nurses proves beneficial. Community midwives should forge links with the district nursing services in their Primary Care Trust areas with regard to developing or adapting tools. Knowledge of pathophysiology, prophylaxis and subsequent management of decubitus ulcers in maternity care is sadly lacking in midwifery textbooks. Future authors and editors should include this subject and it should feature more prominently in midwifery education curricula. It is clear that there is much work to be done in this area, both educationally and clinically. Further research is required to evaluate pressure prevention strategies in the midwifery arena, including the increasing provision of one-to-one care in labour suite units. Improvements in the appropriate prevention and subsequent treatment and management of pressure sores will benefit women and help save the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds in treatment and litigation costs.