An Evaluation of Pressure Ulcer Wound Characteristics in Long-term Care Settings

Background: Pressure ulcers have been reported to be common particularly in the elderly or patients with mobility or cognitive impairments. Increased morbidity, mortality rates and healthcare spend are associated with long-term care facilities with high rates of pressure ulcers. An assessment of the characteristics of pressure ulcers in the long-term care setting may be key in improving health outcomes while minimizing morbidity and mortality rates.

Objective: The present study sought to assess the characteristics of pressure ulcers in long-term care facilities.

Methods: A descriptive analysis of eligible pressure ulcers was conducted following the extraction of de-identified wound- and patient- level data based on initial encounter from an electronic wound management database between August 2010 and March 2016.

Results: Of a total of 267,374 unique wounds identified in the database, 80,610 (30.2%) presented with pressure ulcers, representing 33,246 unique patients with a mean age (SD) of 76.4 (12.9) years and 57.8% was female. By wound source, 72% of the pressure ulcers was present on admission and 28% facility-acquired. With respect to exudate amount, 66.2% of wounds had no exudate while 21.8%, 6.4%, 4.3% and 1.2% had exudate amounts that were light, moderate, scant and heavy respectively. Although majority, 66.2% of pressure ulcers had no exudate, 30.2% had a form of serous/serosanguineous exudates.

Conclusion: An assessment of pressure ulcer wound characteristics within care settings may be crucial in ensuring that the most effective wound management strategies are implemented in order to optimally manage prevalent cases while preventing incident cases.