Pressure ulcers have a devastating impact on patients’ health and quality of life and they are costly to treat and increase length of stay. Regrettably most, if not all, pressure ulcers are preventable.

As a part of VCH-wide Accreditation 2016, the group is working to ensure we meet the Tests of Compliance to the Required Organizational Practices (ROP) for the care and safety of our patients, clients and residents. 

“As a result of Accreditation 2016, the resources developed will help teams demonstrate the required organization practices for pressure ulcer prevention,” says Jeanette Boily, co-chair of the Regional Intra-Professional Skin and Wound Working Group, “including assessment of each patient’s risk factors for developing a pressure ulcer and implementation of interventions to prevent pressure ulcer development.”

Since the working group’s formation in 2008, they have introduced a pressure ulcer prevention strategy using the Braden risk assessment tool and a care plan to address identified risk factors. The group has also developed a suite of quality improvement tools to measure the effectiveness of pressure ulcer prevention strategies. These can be used to identify avoidable contributing factors and help teams demonstrate the improvements they have made for effective pressure ulcer prevention.

Learn more

Learn more about VCH Accreditation 2016 on VCH Connect.