By: Darlene Hanson, MS, RN, Pat Thompson, MS, RN, Diane Langemo, PhD, RN, FAAN, Susan Hunter, MS, RN, and Julie Anderson, PhD, RN, CCRC
Faced with the nursing diagnosis of Impaired skin integrity, we’ve all written care plans that state our goal as “redistributing or reducing pressure.” But how do we do that? Which measures do we take? And how do we know that our interventions have relieved pressure? Do we rely solely on a skin assessment? A patient’s self-assessment of comfort? What if the patient can’t feel pressure relief because of neurologic impairment?
The answers to these questions may be that nurses should use pressure mapping, a tool used by occupational and physical therapists to determine seat-interface pressures and by other healthcare professionals to perform foot assessments. (more…)
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