Evidence-Based Approach to Decrease Incidence of Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries

Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) are a painful and unwanted experience for the patient and cause unwanted additional costs to hospitals. Because HAPIs are a preventable occurrence, they are a nurse-sensitive indictor for national benchmarking when looking at quality and safety. Controlling the occurrence of HAPI in the hospital setting can be challenging for any nurse, but the difficulty is enhanced in the intensive care unit. This article discusses how a group of nurses from various areas of the hospital came together to heighten awareness of skin care and provided frontline education to peers. Through the use of structured programs using both a nationally known Wound Associate treatment program and Lean methodology, the nurses were able to work through processes and barriers and successfully decrease the incidence of HAPI in this academic medical center.