Risk assessment for pressure ulcer – evidence based nursin practice

Abstract

For a long time pression ulcers were always considered inevitable, and the necessary attention was never given to it, but according to the level of knowledge that we have today it is considered preventable in a large percentage of cases. So far the best treatment of UP is its prevention. For this, human resources materials and methods are required. The study aimed to examine studies, published in national and international scientific journals, about the risk evaluation for the prevention of pressure ulcers considering the Braden and Waterlow’s scales. This is a systematic review of literature with qualitative approach, which were used the scientific databases SciELO and PubMed, from 1998-2007. In this study 10 articles were selected and analyzed. We concluded that the scales of UP prevention, especially Braden and Waterlow’s scales, are important tools to help systematise the assistance of nursing, so that we can through these instruments prevent UP. Thus, this will minimize the time of hospitalization and costs, factors that will improve the quality of care in nursing.