September 12, 2013

In the past year, TriHealth nurses have dramatically decreased the number of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers, or injuries to skin and underlying tissues that result from prolonged pressure on the skin.

In this video, Bethesda North staff nurse Terri Morrison, RN, CN, talks about her unit’s efforts to make that possible.

Across the system, the HAPU rate showed a decrease this past year, with numerous units having no HAPUs for the entire year. A system-wide Skin Care Committee, wound care nurses at both hospitals, and Skin Champion Committees at each facility— with nurses and PCAs from each nursing unit as well as most ancillary departments—resulted in a truly collaborative effort to lower HAPU rates.

Initiatives that contributed to the remarkably low numbers included:

• “Wounds on Wednesday” (WOW), a systematic program for routine, thorough monitoring of patients’ skin
• “Four Eyes in Four Hours,” an initiative that assigns two nurses to assess a patient’s skin within four hours of admission or transfer to a unit
• “Turn Teams,” which identify patients at risk for skin breakdown and post a turn schedule in the patient’s room, indicating the time and position of turns
• “PUP” program, which uses a picture of a puppy to alert all staff that a patient is at high risk for skin breakdown

“The results are incredible,” said Mary Irvin, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, senior vice president and chief nurse executive for TriHealth. “This shows what we can do when we truly focus on something.”

Read more about TriHealth nurses’ many successes in the past year in the 2013 Nursing Annual Report.