IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF PRESSURE INJURY PREVENTION IN AN INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
Pressure Ulcer; Quality Improvement; Patient Safety
Introduction: Pressure injuries have a significant impact on patients and health services and their presence has been seen as a negative indicator of the quality of care provided to patients. The adoption of preventive measures aimed at reducing its probability of occurrence can avoid unnecessary suffering, save resources and save lives, which justifies the implementation of prevention programs in health environments. Objective: To evaluate the effect of implementing quality improvement in the prevention of pressure injuries in adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients. Methodology: This is a study with a quantitative approach, with a quasi-experimental design of the before and after type, without a control group, developed through the implementation of a project to improve the quality of the prevention of pressure injuries, in the adult ICU of the Regional Hospital Dr. Mariano Coelho. The study was divided into 06 stages: Identification and prioritization of improvement opportunities/quality problems; Analysis of the quality problem; Development of criteria to assess the level of quality; Quality level assessment; Planning and implementation of interventions; and Quality reassessment. The elaboration of the quality criteria were based on the specialized literature and measure the compliance rate of processes and structure related to pressure injury prevention. These criteria were measured as dichotomous variables: compliance and non-compliance. Preliminary results: All criteria measured in the initial assessment showed values equal to or less than 50% of compliance and one of the criteria stood out negatively for presenting a zero rate of compliance. As for the implementation of interventions, of the 08 (eight) activities planned, 02 (two) have already been carried out and referred to the change in the registration systems, 03 (three) referring to the awareness and training of professionals are in progress and another 03 ( three) will still be performed and refer to changes in the work process. Conclusions: The initial evaluation showed that the quality level of pressure injury prevention is low, thus being an important opportunity for improvement to be worked on.