Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Patient Repositioning for Pressure Injury Prevention: A Survey of US Acute Care Wound Nurses

Authors: Annemari S. Cooley, MBA, MA¹; Richard Dansereau, RN, MSN²; Renaye Mansfield, RN, BSN, CWS³

¹Sr. Director, Clinical Development, Smith + Nephew, Salem, OR

²Clinical Resource Specialist, Clinical Affairs, Smith + Nephew

³Senior Clinical Business Director, Clinical Affairs, Smith + Nephew

Poster Number: CR-28

It is a well-known belief that prevention is an important factor in health care, which also consists of in-hospital care with turning practices to prevent pressure injury formation. However, these preventive practices may have decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the stress the pandemic had placed on the US health care system. At the 2021 SAWC Spring / Wound Healing Society Meeting, Annemari Cooley and coauthors showcased the results of their research on the effect of patient repositioning on pressure injury prevention (PIP) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The poster authors conducted a survey to learn how the pandemic may have affected patient repositioning as a routine PIP measure and whether wound care professionals were seeing increases in hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs).

Registrants (or the audience) of a November 2020 educational webinar on patient repositioning were surveyed about the impact of COVID-19 on the provider’s facility’s PIP programs. Work setting and location information were recorded as well as any modifications made and/or struggles with PIP programs due to the pandemic.

Of 412 survey respondents, 133 individuals identified as a wound care nurse or wound care coordinator working in an acute care hospital in the US; respondents were from 37 different states. From those individuals, 42% reported an increase in HAPI in their facilities, which included 14% who reported the increase was primarily on prone surfaces (ie, face) and 4% reporting the HAPI is primarily respiratory device related. Additionally, 21% of respondents found patients received less frequent repositioning as a result of isolation protocols. In total, 60% believed their facility’s turn protocol adherence ranged from 50%–70% and 31% believed theirs to be below 50%. The reported barriers for PIP protocol adherence were competing priorities (53%), insufficient staffing (28%), poor reminder/alert system (11%), and other (8%; not reported).

In summary, as evidenced by the survey Cooley et al conducted, the pandemic has had a profound effect on US health care systems; specifically, the authors reported isolation protocols and staff safety concerns negatively impacted the frequency patients are repositioned in the acute care hospital setting in the US.

Poster Reference:

Cooley AS, Dansereau R, Mansfield R. Effect of COVID-19 pandemic on patient repositioning for pressure injury prevention: a survey of US acute care wound nurses. Poster presented at: Symposium on Advanced Wound Care Spring Virtual; May 10-14, 2021.