Pain associated with pressure injury: A qualitative study of community-based, home-dwelling individuals

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Aims: The aim of this study was to provide deep insights into the pain associated with pressure injuries in home-dwelling individuals using narrative accounts. Background: Pressure injuries or pressure ulcers are burdensome and costly. Prevalence data, surveys and systematic reviews demonstrate that pain associated with pressure injury is widespread, but voices of home-dwelling patients have remained largely unheard. Design: Concurrent mixed methods case study of a UK community of approximately 50,000 adults. Methods: Qualitative interviews, conducted in 2016, of 12 home-dwelling adult participants with a current pressure injury (n = 10), or a recently healed pressure injury (n = 2). Findings: Pain had an adverse impact on activities of daily living, mobility and sleep. Participants described days that were clouded in pain; a pain they felt was poorly understood and often out of control. Thematic content analysis revealed two major themes; these are: Poorly controlled pain: “I just want the pain to go away”; and, Uncertainty for the future: “it almost seems insurmountable.”. Conclusion: Findings of our study support the need to develop an appropriate assessment tool for pressure injury patients in the community to enable healthcare professionals and patients to recognize and manage pressure injury-related pain effectively

Health service provision and the use of pressure-redistributing devices: mixed methods study of community dwelling individuals with pressure injuries

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Background: Health care within the home setting is a vital and growing component of pressure injury (PI) prevention and management. Objectives: To describe the use of health services and pressure-redistributing devices in community dwelling patients with PI’s. Design: Mixed-methods collective case study of a defined, diverse geographic postcode area in the United Kingdom. Methods: Quantitative retrospective analysis of electronic and paper medical records of adult PI patients from 2015 district nursing reports. Qualitative semi-structured interviews of community dwelling adult patients receiving, or received, treatment for PI in 2016. Results: Mandatory reports (n = 103) revealed that 90 patients were supplied with a variety of pressure-redistributing devices but only one-third of patients used the equipment as recommended. Qualitative interviews (n = 12), reported to COREQ guidelines, revealed that patients felt reliant on community health services, and were concerned about the consistency of their care. Conclusions: Authentic patient involvement is required to provide care and interventions that are acceptable to PI patients and can be incorporated into self-care strategies and effectively monitored