Date of Conferral
2016
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Dr. Eric Anderson
Abstract
The goal of this project was to evaluate a hospital acquired pressure ulcer (HAPU) prevention program implemented in a New York City hospital in 2012. The program objective was to encourage collaboration of team members to prevent HAPUs in order to reduce prevalence rates to national target benchmarks. The program provided caregivers information about epidemiology, etiology, prevention, and treatment of HAPUs, and presented HAPU prevention as a collaborative process in order to foster greater awareness in each participant's role as an agent of change by emphasizing the importance of communication between members of the health care team. This project evaluated that program by exploring changes in the incidence of HAPUs following implementation of the HAPU prevention program. This study was retrospective in nature and used a backdated analysis of archival data collected as a separate-sample, pretest-posttest, and quasi-experimental design to assess the relationship of the frequency of HAPUs to the implementation of a skin safety program. The data collected was between July 2012 and December 2013 from 2 medical/surgical units in a metropolitan hospital in New York City. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t tests for independent samples. Incidence of HAPUs fell on both units, with t tests demonstrating statistically significant differences and large effect sizes on both units, suggesting clinical and practical significance of the findings. While this project does not establish improved HAPU incidence as a direct consequence of the skin health education program, findings of the project provide insight for hospital leaders in their efforts to reduce HAPU rates. Results of the project suggest a HAPU prevention program emphasizing development of knowledge and skills as well as the promotion of collaboration between health care team members may be effective in reducing HAPU incidence rates. This project also provides a low cost educational option to reduce healthcare disparities and promote positive social change. Further research in similar contexts is recommended for future study.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Stacey, "The Effectiveness of an Organizational Hospital-Acquired Pressure Ulcer Prevention Workshop on Pressure Ulcer Prevalence Rates" (2016). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 2089.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2089
