Risk Factors for Pressure Injury Development Among Critical Care Patients

The first step in successful pressure injury (PI) prevention is the identification of appropriate risk factors. In the critically ill, determination of PI risk is multifactorial and clinically challenging, as there are many unique risk factors that confront this population. Empirically supported PI risk factors in the critical care population include age, diabetes, hypotension, compromised mobility, prolonged intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation and vasopressor administration. Future risk assessment using sophisticated data analytics combined with electronic medical information may result in earlier targeted PI prevention and will improve our understanding of risk factors that contribute to unavoidable Pls.