Abstract

AIM: The aim of this study was to determine if in-patients in some selected Nigeria hospitals are at risk of developing pressure sore and to determine the preventive techniques adopted by Health Care Professionals.
METHOD: A questionnaire was used for this study and it was divided into two parts. The part A is a structured questionnaire that took care of socio-demographic data and preventive techniques while part B is the Braden Scale which was used to assess the risk of developing pressure ulcer. Three hundred and eighteen (318) In-patients in five Nigeria purposively selected hospitals in southwest Nigeria volunteered to participate in this study. The statistical method that was employed was descriptive statistics.
RESULTS: The result of the study showed that In-patients in the selected hospitals are “at risk” of developing pressure ulcers. Also, General Practitioners (50.47%) and nursing staff (49.52%) mostly prescribed at least one of the preventive techniques while few (31.23%) reported that physiotherapists prescribed at least one of the preventive techniques. However, a considerable number of the patients (35.02%) were never informed by any of the health staff on preventive measures.
CONCLUSION: It was concluded that In-patients in Nigeria hospitals are “at risk” of developing pressure ulcers and that health care providers in Nigeria are not prescribing adequate preventive techniques to prevent pressure ulcers.

Key words: Risk, Decubitus ulcer, Prevention, Health Professionals

Article Language: Turkish English