[Quality assurance regarding pressure sores in a Danish hospital population]

Seven hospital departments were enrolled in the first step in a quality assurance process regarding pressure sores. A total of 2317 patients representative of a Danish hospital population were included. At the time of admission 2.2% had pressure sores and 1.1% pressure marks (point prevalence), and during hospitalization 2.9% developed pressure sores pressure sores and 1.1% pressure marks (point prevalence), and during hospitalization 2.9% developed pressure sores and 1.4% pressure marks (absolute incidence). The incidence of pressure sores and pressure marks varied between the department from 0-11.3% and from 0 to 7.7% respectively. The relative risk (RR) of developing pressure sores was highest (RR 11.7) for patients who had pressure marks on admittance. Other significant risk factors were admission to one specific surgical department compared to the reference department (RR 7.9), age > 81 years compared to age < 54 years (RR 6.0), length of stay > 8 days compared to < 8 days (RR 5.9) and the diagnosis fractura partis proximalis femoris compared to other diagnoses (RR 4.7). The longer the duration of surgery the higher the incidence of pressure sores, but there was no significant relation between the waiting time from admission to surgery and incidence of pressure sores. The study documents that the development of pressure sores in Danish hospital patients is not a serious quality problem. However, individual differences between departments show the need for some departments to continue the quality improvement efforts.