Pressure Ulcer Prevention in Hospitals - Research Paper Example

Pressure Ulcer Prevention Introduction Prevention of pressure ulcer entails a multidisciplinary way of dealing with care. Most of the ways of preventing pressure ulcer is routinized, but prevention has to be tailor made to the particular risk information of every patient. None of the single clinician, who is solely working, irrespective of his talent, may preclude the growth of pressure ulcers. Relatively, preventing pressure ulcer involves activities among various individuals that include various disciplines and multiple teams that are involved in development and implementation of the care plan. For this coordination to be achieved, high-quality prevention requires operational practices and organizational culture that promote communication and teamwork, as well as personal expertise. Consequently, enhancement in pressure ulcer prevention requires a system that is aimed at making the required changes Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify some of the changes that are needed in the Pressure Ulcer Prevention Practices in Nursing (Sullivan, 2013). Pressure Ulcer Prevention in Hospitals Since pressure ulcer care is difficult, efforts to develop prevention strategies for pressure ulcer needs a system approach that will encompass organizational change (Kuhn, 2013). It becomes very difficult bring a change of any type within an organization especially when it involves several, simultaneous changes in communication, workflow, and decision-making as are required in preventing pressure ulcer. Inability to evaluate the readiness of the organization for the change at various levels may lead to unanticipated problems during the implementation. Change in Pressure Ulcer Prevention Practice assists the nurses and their organization to discover the readiness and come up with action steps to develop it if necessary. Proposed Change Making changes to practice requires one first to understand the existing practices. With the view that pressure ulcer prevention has completely taken new dimension is a clear indication that there are more than one apparent performance teething troubles in this place. There are gaps of various forms, between present best practices and real work practices due to lack of proper coordination among various clinical units, unequal access to existing source of information and disparity in staff knowledge. In addition, there are gaps between identified practices and real. There have never been prior efforts to advance pressure ulcer prevention or care within the organization. The organization does not have a certified wound care nurse and does not involve physicians in wound care. Furthermore, the information pertaining skin condition of the patient and risks are not properly documented and shared (Bennett G, 2004). Change evaluation After determining the pressure ulcer prevention practices and the process of how new roles will have to be organized and defined so as to undertake these practices, one needs to come up with strategies for implementing them. This part focuses mainly on pilot testing and initial implementation of these new practices. In order to guide the anticipated changes, the following questions have to be considered. How can front line change process be managed? How can these new practices be pilot tested? How can employees be involved and motivated on how to prevent pressure ulcer? How can employees be assisted so as to learn these new practices? The activities and plans prompted by the above questions must be simultaneously addressed since if handled separately, some other practices may overlap. Front line change management As mentioned before, integrating the new package consist of changes in the way in which staff carry out their duties, a process which is regularly challenging. Other instances demands that the changes have be small, while others it has to be extensive. For that reason, for one to create the desirable changes: It will be imperative for one to make sure that a staff understands his or her current role and possess tools and knowledge so as to perform. Offer enough support in minimizing change resistance by making sure subordinates accept change and appreciate the reasons for making change. In order to assist the subordinate to fully accept the current practices, the management should ensure that the staff fully appreciates that these practices provide good approaches for offering high-quality care for all patients. Find out and reduce real obstructions to adaptation of the new practices, i.e. insufficient accessibility of supplies. Engage staff at various levels in order to win them and accept the effort of improvement and assist in designing the practices of how to prevent pressure ulcer. In order to manage the change process effectively, the team in charge of implementation must coordinate, guide, and support the implementation effort in the pilot phase at the time the new prevention practices are fully implemented in the hospital. Involving clinicians, middle managers and staff In nearly all the level, it will not only be vital to include frontline nurses and support staff but also to involve managers and nurses. The attention was mostly on the top management, although middle managers are welcomed for their support. For instance, service chiefs and nurse managers should be brought on board in initial consultations in regards to the new package will (Sullivan N, 2013). Contributions from physician are frequently ignored in pressure care, but it has to be exhilarated. This is true if several medical cares is delivered by insignificant hospitalists. Ensure most of them are conversant with hospital procedures and policies and best practices on how to prevent pressure ulcer The process of monitoring the implementation Those that are tasked with implementation of change must develop an ongoing process for checking the change progress. One of the implementation processes is collecting the response from the clinicians and staff i.e. the team can compile the problems and questions from staff and forward to the management. Furthermore, the monitoring process must include following of changes in valuation, incidence and prevalence rates (NA., 2008). Outcomes must be communicated to the implementation team and to the staff. The implementation team must close the information loop by providing the report to the management on how they utilized the information provided to them. Summary Those people who have participated in various organizational change projects are aware that the only step which is even more difficult than carrying out the original changes is making sure that those changes are part of the day-to-day fabric of operations and ensuring that they are sustainable beyond the life of the special campaign or proper improvement effort. In order to make the desirable changes, it will be imperative for one to ensure that staff understands their new roles and possess the tools and knowledge to undertake them out. There has to be a support to minimize change resistance by ensuring that subordinates understand the reasons for change and accept change. Staffs have to be fully supported to so as to accept the new practices, ensure that they fully understand that those practices provide good strategies for offering high-quality care for all patients (Nanney, 2008). In order for this goal to be achieved, Diamond D ( 2004), proposes it is important that the changes should be integrated into current organizational routines and structures and that goals of the management and reporting mechanisms should be aligned with the new practices and standards. Whereas supporting changes logically follows early improvements, it is imperative to start thinking early on the process of making improvements concerning what will be required to make a long-term change. References Bennett G, D. C. (2004). The cost of pressure ulcers in the UK. . Age Ageing, 230–235. Diamond D, M. P. (2004). Effective strategies to reduce pressure ulcer rates. Washington, DC: : The Advisory Board Company. Ducker, A. (2005). Pressure ulcers: assessment,prevention, and compliance. Case Manager, 60-65. Kuhn BA, C. S. (203). Balancing the pressure ulcer cost and quality equation. Nurs Econ, 353-9. NA., S. (2008). Predicting pressure ulcer development in surgical patients. Heart Lung. Sage. Nanney, F. (2008). Risk factors for pressure ulcers in acute care hospitals. Wound Repair Regen, 11-8. Sullivan N, S. K. (2013). Preventing in-facility pressure ulcers as a patient safety strategy: a systematic review. Ann Intern Med, 410-6. Read More