FevenTeshome, Myrla O.Mabalhin
Abstract
Pressure ulcer is a significant health problems but potentially preventable condition seen most often in high-risk populations such as elderly persons and critically ill and bed ridden patients. Data on pressure ulcer are very important for action. However, there is no current data about it at hospitals in Harari Region. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the magnitude and factors affecting the development of pressure ulcer among bedridden patients at public hospitals of Harari regional state, eastern Ethiopia Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 235 bedridden patients who were admitted at least for 4 days in Hiwot Fana University Hospital and Jugel Hospital. Data were collected using interview-administered questionnaire; observation and assessment of patients by standardized tools and review of medical records. Data was entered and cleaned by using Epidata software version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analyses. Results: The overall magnitude of patients who developed pressure ulcer was 35 (16.3%). In this study participant whose age >65 years old were more likely to develop pressure ulcer than those participants whose age <46 years old (AOR: 3.81; 95%CI: 1.03, 14.14). Patient who has constantly (AOR: 4.70; 95% CI: 1.04, 21.28) and often moist skin (AOR: 4.41; 95% CI: 1.01, 19.32) were more likely to develop pressure ulcer than patient whose skin were occasionally moist. Patients who stayed in hospital for ≥ 7 days were more likely to develop pressure ulcer than patients who had stayed for <7 days (AOR: 19.63; 95% CI: 5.97, 64.51). Conculsion: Prevalence of pressure ulcers was high among old aged patients, patients with moist skin and patients who stayed in hospital for long period. Therefore Nurses should improve the quality of the nursing care for bedridden and critically ill patients by using risk assessment scale to identify high risk patients for pressure ulcer development and conducting health information dissemination for patients and their relatives about pressure ulcer prevention methods. Key words: pressure ulcers, bedridden, public hospitals, Harari regional state