Pressure Injuries: Prevention and Management
Course #48853 - $60 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
Pressure injuries are among the most common conditions encountered in patients who suffer prolonged hospitalization or require long-term institutional care. The prevalence varies widely by clinical setting, age, and geographical region. Although generally preventable, not all pressure injuries can be classified as preventable or potentially curable, due to impaired blood circulation, sensory loss, and immobility, causing some patients to become more vulnerable to them. Several dynamics give rise to the occurrence of pressure injuries, but compression leading to ischemia is the ultimate communal culprit. Furthermore, cognitive impairment of some patients has made some preventive measures extremely challenging to employ. This course will outline the etiology, pathogenesis, identification, prevention, and treatment of pressure injuries in any practice setting.
- INTRODUCTION
- EPIDEMIOLOGY
- PATHOGENESIS
- RISK FACTORS
- STAGING OF PRESSURE INJURIES
- PHASES OF WOUND HEALING: AN OVERVIEW
- DIAGNOSIS
- PREVENTION AND TREATMENT
- WOUND MONITORING
- COMPLICATIONS
- TREATMENT OF COMORBIDITIES
- ADVANCES IN PRESSURE INJURY CARE
- MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECTS OF INJURY CARE
- EDUCATING PATIENTS
- CONCLUSION
- Works Cited
- Evidence-Based Practice Recommendations Citations
This course is designed for physicians, primary care providers, and physician assistants involved in the care of patients at risk for pressure injury development.
The purpose of this course is to provide physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners a current review of the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of pressure injuries, with an emphasis on clinical recognition and staging, risk factor assessment and prevention, and management strategies for collaborative care to improve patient outcomes.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Discuss the epidemiology, etiology, and pathogenesis of pressure injuries.
- Identify patients at risk based on extrinsic and intrinsic factors important to pathogenesis.
- Recognize and define the severity and progression of pressure injuries by stage.
- Analyze techniques available for the diagnosis of pressure injuries.
- Develop an effective strategy for skin care and prevention of pressure injuries.
- Choose appropriate options for wound cleansing, debridement, and dressing based on wound types.
- Manage other aspects of the care of patients with pressure injuries, including pain management and infectious complications.
- Create individual treatment plans based on patient characteristics and pressure injury stage.
- Identify the qualities of a pressure injury that should be monitored.
- Outline possible complications and comorbidities of pressure injuries and their treatment.
- Describe the medico-legal aspects of pressure injuries and the significance of correct documentation and patient education.
John M. Leonard, MD, Professor of Medicine Emeritus, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, completed his post-graduate clinical training at the Yale and Vanderbilt University Medical Centers before joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 1974. He is a clinician-educator and for many years served as director of residency training and student educational programs for the Vanderbilt University Department of Medicine. Over a career span of 40 years, Dr. Leonard conducted an active practice of general internal medicine and an inpatient consulting practice of infectious diseases.
Contributing faculty, John M. Leonard, MD, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
John V. Jurica, MD, MPH
Ronald Runciman, MD
The division planners have disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.
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The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.