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Return to PCP's website Return to Pressure Ulcers   Welcome > Menu > Module 2 – Risk Assessment > Topic 1 – How to Assess Risk > Conducting a Risk Assessment  
 

Conducting a Risk Assessment

A carer working by the bedside of a patient with the text ‘Risk Assessment’ underneath

Based on the information presented in Module 1, it can be seen that many factors influence the development of a PU. Therefore, the assessment of risk requires a number of factors to be considered. However, the PUPPS 2004 study indicates:

  • more than one in five patients develop PU
  • PU risk assessments (RA) were documented in just over half of all patients
  • where there was a documented RA, of those patients rated as ‘No Risk’ or ‘Low Risk’, one in six (16.6%) had developed a PU, and of those patients rated as ‘High Risk’ or ‘Very High Risk’, more than one in four (28.4%) had no support device in place.

As a result of these findings, there appears to be a need to improve and monitor the quality and frequency of PU RAs.
There also appears to be a need to improve and monitor the implementation of a PU prevention management plan based on RAs.

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Last updated: 27 March, 2008
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