Development of pressure ulcers in patients receiving home hospice care

Pressure ulcers are common in most healthcare settings, yet precise estimates of incidence and prevalence are unknown. In particular, very little is known about the occurrence of pressure ulcers in hospice care settings. This article reports on a study to describe incidence and prevalence in a sample of home hospice patients who were followed by pharmacists providing palliative pharmacotherapy care planning and consultation to hospice nurses in 4 hospice programs. The researcher examined retrospective data for patients admitted to hospice during the first 6 months of calendar year 2003 for each of the 4 hospice programs (Time 1); for hospice nurse-reported pressure ulcer prevalence at the inception of the prospective study (Time 2); and for the 3-month study period (Time 3). Ninety-nine patients developed pressure ulcers during the study period (incidence=10%). Prevalence of pressure ulcers for Time 3 was 26.9%. Patients who developed pressure ulcers were significantly older (p=0.006), and Karnofsky/Palliative Performance Scale scores were significantly lower (p=0.001). Patients with non-cancer diagnoses were disproportionately affected by development of new pressure ulcers.