Highlights & Basics
- Pressure ulcers are a common problem in hospital inpatients and people who live in care facilities.
- Older people, and all patients with limited mobility or impaired sensation, are at increased risk.
- Pressure damage usually occurs over bony prominences but can develop on any part of the body subjected to sustained localized pressure.
- Pressure damage varies from small superficial lesions to extensive wounds with bony involvement that contain a mass of necrotic tissue.
- Prevention is better than cure; all patients at risk of sustaining pressure damage should be assessed and provided with appropriate pressure-reducing strategies. Using support surfaces, repositioning the patient, optimizing nutritional status, and moisturizing sacral skin are appropriate strategies to prevent pressure ulcers.
Quick Reference
History & Exam
Key Factors
Other Factors
Diagnostics Tests
Treatment Options
Definition
Epidemiology
Etiology
Pathophysiology
Citations
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