CAN PRESSURE ULCER PREVENTION BE A WASTE OF TIME?
Comments on Hagisawa and Barbenel s important study (1999) by the Editor Over the years it has been generally agreed that most pressure ulcers are preventable. This belief has been the foundation of most, if not all, systematic efforts to provide high quality preventive care. But what do we accept by most pressure ulcers? Some would consider that all pressure ulcers can be avoided, perhaps the majority would accept that some are going to occur in spite of the best preventive care. So where do we draw the line? Is an incidence of 1% or 2% within specified patient populations the best we can achieve? Such questions have profound effects; there may come a point when directing more resources into preventive care may yield little or no improvement in clinical outcome (the incidence of pressure ulcers). If we do not begin to discuss the limits of prevention then our care may become economically inefficient wasting scarce time and money that may be better used in other care practices. Hagisaw
