Hospital-acquired PIs (HAPIs) can be devastating to patients and are known to have an economic impact on healthcare organizations. Because hospital-acquired PIs are preventable, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services consider these types of injuries to be Never Events, which has reimbursement implications. Patients undergoing care in the perioperative setting are immobile during surgery and often experience extreme positions that do not allow for repositioning. For these reasons, direct caregivers in perioperative settings need to be dedicated to reducing the risk for PIs (PIs) for all perioperative patients throughout the continuum of perioperative patient care. This education program will present the risk factors for developing PIs, discuss risk-assessment tools that can be used to document the patient’s pre-existing conditions and risk of PI, as well as describe evidence-based guidance to prevent these injuries through each phase of perioperative care. Interventions and new technology that can help reduce the risk of origination or progression of perioperative PIs will also be described.
Learning Objectives:
Identify the etiology and risk factors of PIs in healthcare and specifically throughout the continuum of perioperative patient care
Discuss how to assess for PIs in each phase of perioperative care
Describe evidence-based interventions and technology to reduce PI risk and progression throughout the continuum of perioperative patient care
