Preventing Pressure Ulcers with the Braden Scale

Editor's note: From its first issue in 1900 through to the present day, AJN has unparalleled archives detailing nurses' work and lives over more than a century. These articles not only chronicle nursing's growth as a profession within the context of the events of the day, but also reveal prevailing societal attitudes about women, health care, and human rights. Today's nursing school curricula rarely include nursing's history, but it's a history worth knowing. To this end, From the AJN Archives highlights articles selected to fit today's topics and times. In the 1980s, Barbara J. Braden and Nancy Bergstrom developed the Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Sore Risk. The scale consists of six subscales that evaluate a patient's sensory perception, activity level, mobility, and nutrition status and the skin's exposure to moisture, and friction and shear forces. The Braden Scale was adopted internationally and has since served as a foundation for decades of subsequent pressure injury research. In this June 2005 article, Braden and Joann Maklebust provided an update about the scale, reviewing its purpose, when and how often to use it, and why it shouldn't be altered, stating, "Although it's not uncommon for clinicians to shorten or otherwise alter a risk assessment tool, we strongly advise against it . . . even minor alterations may influence reliability or accuracy." Braden passed away on June 24, 2023. Her photo graces our cover this month, and you can read a tribute to her and her significant contributions to health care and nursing in On the Cover.