Assessment of Pressure Injuries Following Surgery: A Descriptive Study

Pressure injury is a common problem for patients undergoing surgery and is a significant quality indicator for perioperative care.

To determine the rate of intraoperative pressure injuries and evaluate risk factors in surgical patients.

A descriptive study was conducted from May to December 2019 among consecutive patients older than 18 years of age undergoing a nonemergent (planned) surgical procedure lasting longer than 2 hours in a hospital in Turkey. Patients with a history of preoperative pressure injury were not eligible for participation. Data collected included demographic and clinical information, preoperative Braden Scale scores, and 3S Intraoperative Risk Assessment Scale scores. The presence of a pressure injury was evaluated immediately postoperatively and 24 hours postoperatively. Descriptive statistics, chi-square, Student t test, Mann-Whitney U test, one-way analysis of variance, and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used for postoperative skin integrity and factors affecting the risk of pressure injury in the intraoperative period.

The 164 participants ranged in age from 18 to 80 years (mean, 51.58 ± 15.96 years). The most common procedures were orthopedic (47, 28.7%), the mean Braden Scale score was 19.96 ± 1.81, and the mean 3S Intraoperative Risk Assessment Scale score was 17.92 ± 3.03. Immediately postoperatively, 64.0% of patients had blanchable erythema and 6.7% had a stage 1 pressure injury. Also immediately postoperatively, noblanchable erythema was found to be affected by comorbidities, long hospitalization time before surgery, long operation time, American Society of Anesthesiologists score of II, lithotomy position, low body temperature, hypotension during surgery, and wetness under the gluteal and sacral area during surgery. In the skin assessment conducted 24 hours after surgery, 4.9% of patients had blanchable erythema.

The majority of patients (95.1%) did not show signs of a pressure injury during the time of the study (24 hours). Additional and longer-term studies are warranted.