Pressure Wounds on Patients Acquired from Prolonged Stay in the Emergency Department
Although the emergency department (ED) is the initial point of contact for patients seeking complex acute care, extended stay, particularly in the ED, is a risk factor for hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) (Santamaria et al., 2019). Hospital-acquired pressure wounds remain an issue of concern in patients who are bedridden or elderly who wait for longer periods in the ED. ED-acquired pressured wounds as a result of prolonged stay in the department risk severe discomforts, longer lengths of hospital stay, and other dermatological muscular, and skeletal complications in the patient (Saindon & Berlowitz, 2022), as well as an additional burden of care to the patients and their families (Santamaria et al., 2019). However, acquired pressure injuries and wounds are potentially preventable (Fulbrook et al., 2019). This article presents a practical intervention to be implemented in the ED for the prevention of pressure wounds on bedridden elderly patients acquired from prolonged stays in the emergency department.
Content of Location and Population
Elderly patients are prone to multimorbid health conditions that require emergency care and prolonged observation. The ED, as noted, is the first point of delivering care and entry to long-term care for seriously ill patients. There are various factors that lead to longer wait times in the ED, especially for elderly patients, including the busy clinicians dealing with various patients with competing needs, a limited supply of ED specialists, prolonged immobility, and the need for multiple tests for the elderly patients before they are transferred to an in-patient unit. Acquired pressure wounds are a significant risk and an issue of concern among seriously ill and bedridden elderly patients who wait longer in the ED before they are admitted to the system for further acute care.
The issue of and the risk of acquired pressure wounds in the ED of our hospital has become an issue of concern in the past few months among elderly patients. The problem has been noted to arise due to a combination of issues reported in the ED, including prolonged wait times in the ED resulting from the complexity of their medical conditions that required emergency care and a lack of clear interventions to guide the ED nurses to relieve pressure on the bedridden elderly patients who remain immobile in the department for longer. Additionally, the ED department, due to the summer season, is currently experiencing an influx of patients due to injuries, leading to even longer wait times for all patients despite prioritizing all serious cases.
PICOT Formatted Question
Population
The population of concern is the bedridden elderly patients who have prolonged stays in the ED.
Intervention
The proposed intervention to be implemented is the multilayered silicone foam placed under the bony prominences of elderly patients.
Comparison
The comparison intervention will be the current time-to-time lifting of the patient.
Outcome
The expected outcome is a significant reduction of ED-acquired pressure wounds.
Time
The time for testing the effectiveness of the proposed intervention is 6 months.
The full PICO(T)-the formatted question is; In bedridden elderly patients with longer stays in the ED, does the use of the multilayered silicone foam placed under the bony prominences of the elderly patients compared to the frequent lifting of the patient reduce the risk of ED-acquired pressure wounds in a period of 6 months.
The Rationale for the PICOT Question
As the risk and occurrence of pressure wounds in bedridden elderly patients who have prolonged stays in the ED is increasing, there is a need to implement an evidence-based intervention to reduce the risk. The use of the multilayered silicone foam placed under the bony prominences has been found to be effective in reducing HAPIs in general patient populations (Saindon & Berlowitz, 2022). Repeated lifting of patients is the current intervention and is found to be effective in reducing acquired pressure wounds; however, staffing constraints limit it as an intervention. The PICOT question will allow the testing of the effectiveness of the use of the multilayered silicone foam placed under the bony prominences with the current staffing levels within a period of 6 months. If effective, the intervention will provide a permanent solution to the issue without the need for additional staffing.
References
Fulbrook, P., Miles, S., & Coyer, F. (2019). Prevalence of pressure injury in adults presenting to the emergency department by ambulance. Australian Critical Care, 32(6), 509–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AUCC.2018.10.002
Saindon, K., & Berlowitz, D. (2022). The 2020 Update on Pressure Injuries: A Review of the Literature. Advances in Skin and Wound Care, 35(1), 14–20. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASW.0000800200.98475.87
Santamaria, N., Creehan, S., Fletcher, J., Alves, P., & Gefen, A. (2019). Preventing pressure injuries in the emergency department: Current evidence and practice considerations. International Wound Journal, 16(3), 746–752. https://doi.org/10.1111/
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
We’ll write everything from scratch
Question 
My problem of interest is for patients who are waiting in the emergency room when they are admitted to the hospital waiting for a clean bed on the unit they are supposed to be going to and are bedridden or elderly.
Pressure Wounds on Patients Acquired from Prolonged Stay in the Emergency Department
They are prone to getting hospital-acquired bed sores or pressure wounds. My concern is how we can prevent these using appropriate interventions.
Complete the 
Complete the order payment after filling in the order form. We’ll receive your order and assign it to a writer.
The assigned writer will complete your paper and forward it to our Editing Team for review and approval.
Once approved by the editor, the completed paper will be uploaded to your account for you to download, review and approve.