Introduction
Older adults report multiple comorbidities, particularly chronic diseases, due to their compromised immunity. Pressure ulcers are among the ailments that limit their well-being and require collaboration among caregivers to offer effective medication. The disease is severe among populations above 65 years since ailments such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity, reduce their ability to fight infections effectively. The US government incurs $11 billion every year to eradicate the disease due to the high prevalence of at least 2.5 million annual pressure ulcer incidents (Boyko et al., 2018). The pressure ulcer prevention plan should focus on the most vulnerable population and equip caregivers with the required skills and knowledge to eradicate the disease.
Outcomes
The pressure ulcer prevention education plan focuses on equipping physicians and caregivers to detect and collaborate to improve the well-being of geriatric, bed-bound, and limited mobility patients. Nurses’ expertise is the primary determinant of primary care outcomes since they interact with patients, diagnose their ailments, prescribe medication, and offer adequate care to improve recovery. This project focuses on the following outcomes to improve the public’s wellness and establish the pressure ulcer prevention plan.
- Increasing caregivers’ knowledge on pressure relief and infection control through training.
- Building a collaborative nursing team to coordinate care.
- Outlining a holistic and proper patient care routine in hospitals.
- Educating patients on an effective approach to manage and heal from pressure ulcers.
- Communicating the preventive plan at the community level.
Approach
The prevention plan commences by treating current patients while outlining the strategy to eradicating pressure ulcers. Ebi et al. (2019) mention that the lack of staff and limited training services as the main barriers to offering adequate care to patients. Consequently, this project intends to increase caregivers’ knowledge of the treatment and prevention approach. The treatment plan focuses on pressure relief and infection control to improve the wellness of bedridden patients. Pressure relief entails regularly repositioning patients, introducing special beds, and refitting prosthetics, while infection control involves initial disease evaluation and treatment using antiseptics to improve geriatric care (Boyko et al., 2018). Nurses’ expertise will initiate the prevention plan through treatment to give the community the hope of recovering from the disease.
Secondly, the prevention education plan should involve creating a collaborative nursing team to share knowledge and integrate coordinated caregiving to promote quick recovery and health information dissemination. Understaffing and poor team management are among the hindrances from creating a collaborative team in treating and preventing pressure ulcers. However, researchers suggest collaboration is essential to preventing the ailments since caregivers can undertake designated roles to coordinate care throughout the community. Reportedly, educating nurses on collaborative action reduces pressure ulcer occurrence by 70% (Berlowitz et al., n.d.). Hospitals can achieve this result by appointing an effective leader with team-building skills to coordinate nurses’ roles to formulate a prevention plan against pressure ulcers.
The holistic and proper care plan also shows significant results in preventing pressure ulcers since it transcends patients’ ailments and investigates the family lifestyle and the external environment. A disease prevention plan involves analyzing the community practices at the family level to understand the impacts of their behaviors on disease prevalence. Holistic care involves investigating the social and economic situations leading to the development of the ailment (Teo et al., 2018). This approach effectively prevents pressure ulcers since it assesses community and family problems that develop and worsen the conditions. Teaching nurses to provide holistic care will enable them to assess the patients’ internal and external environment and provide effective and practical tactics for preventing pressure ulcers.
Although physicians and caregivers play the biggest role in treating and eradicating ailments, patients can also participate by applying the information from medics to facilitate recovery. As a result, the disease prevention plan should urge physicians to impart adequate insights into pressure ulcers to increase their involvement. The patients can convey the message to the community to introduce healthy behavior. They should learn about the contribution of lifestyles, such as poor nutrition, and share the ideas (Mutair et al., 2020). Therefore, the education prevention plan will urge nurses to interact with patients suggest lifestyle changes to improve their wellness.
Finally, nurses can directly engage in the community emancipation exercise by organizing seminars and disease prevention programs to increase their awareness of pressure ulcers. Smith et al. (2018) outline that prevention starts with communicating with community members on the cause and development of ailments. Nurses should inform the public on the lifestyle and behaviors that encourage the development of pressure ulcers. The treatment and prevention plan they offer can improve community wellness and prevent pressure ulcers.
Budget
Conclusion
In essence, training nurses and creating a conducive and productive environment can promote wellness among geriatric, bed-bound, and limited mobility patients by treating and preventing pressure ulcers. Older patients need advanced care due to the limited family care and multiple comorbidities that require urgent management. Additionally, the public requires adequate knowledge on the occurrence, epidemiology, and prevention plan against pressure ulcers to reduce the disease prevalence. Therefore, the pressure ulcer prevention plan should educate caregivers, patients, and the community on lifestyle improvements that support wellness.
Reference
Berlowitz, D., Beford, V.A., Lucas, C., Parker, V., Niederhauser, A., Silver, J., Logan, C., Ayello, E. (n.d.). Preventing pressure ulcers in hospitals. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Web.
Boyko, T.V., Longaker, M.T., & Yang, G.P. (2018). Review of the current management of pressure ulcers. Advances in Wound Care, 7(2), 57–67. Web.
Ebi, W.E., Hirko, G.F., & Mijena, D.A. (2019). Nurses’ knowledge to pressure ulcer prevention in public hospitals in Wollega: A cross-sectional study design. BMC Nursing, 18(20). Web.
Smith, S., Snyder, A., McMahon, L.F., Petersen, L., & Meddings, J. (2018). Success in hospital-acquired pressure ulcer prevention: A tale in two data sets. Health Affairs, 37(11). Web.
Teo, C.S.M., Claire, C.A., Lopez, V., & Shorey, S. (2018). Pressure injury prevention and management practices among nurses: A realist case study. International Would Journal, 16(1), 153 – 163. Web.