[Nursing methodology applicated in patients with pressure ulcers. Clinical report]

The application of functional patterns lets us to make a systematic and premeditated nursing assessment, with which we obtain a lot of relevant patient data in an organized way, making easier to analize them. In our case, we use Marjory Gordon's functional health patterns and NANDA (North American Nursing Diagnosis Association), NOC (Nursing Outcomes Classification), NIC (Nursing Intervention Classification) taxonomy.

The overall objective of this paper is to present the experience of implementation and development of nursing methodology in the care of patients with pressure ulcers.

In this article it's reported a case of a 52-year-old female who presented necrosis of phalanxes in upper and lower limbs and suffered amputations of them after being hospitalized in an Intensive Care Unit. She was discharged with pressure ulcers on both heels. GENERAL ASSESSMENT: It was implemented the nursing theory known as "Gordon's functional health patterns" and the affected patterns were identified. The Second Pattern (Nutritional-Metabolic) was considered as reference, since this was the pattern which altered the rest. EVOLUTION OF THE PATIENT: The patient had a favourable evolution, improving all the altered patterns. The infections symptoms disappeared and the pressure ulcers of both heels healed completely.

The application of nursing methodology to care patients with pressure ulcers using clinical practice guidelines, standardized procedures and rating scales of assessment improves the evaluation of results and the performance of nurses.