Nurses highlight dangers of pressure ulcers for world awareness day

World Wide Stop Pressure Ulcer Day on 20 November was highlighted this week at York Hospital with an information campaign by the Trust’s dedicated specialist nurses who help prevent the risk of pressure ulcers.

Dedicated tissue viability specialist nurses work across the organisation to raise the profile of pressure ulcers and advise on what can be done to help prevent this potentially life threatening condition.

Ceri Elliot, Tissue Viability Specialist Nurse for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Pressure ulcers are seen as a major problem for patients, affecting millions of people worldwide, deteriorating their health and quality of life, and ultimately can lead to disability and death. They are considered a major threat for patient safety in health care.

"Patient safety and excellent pressure ulcer prevention practices are an organisational priority for the Trust and we have great passion to improve care and reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers. We want to increase awareness of pressure ulcers for health care professionals, families, and caregivers of patients at risk of developing pressure ulcers. Prevention is the key and this is pivotal to succeeding in reducing pressure ulcers."

To make sure that World Wide Stop Pressure Ulcer message reached as many people as possible the specialist nurses did a trolley dash around the hospital visiting wards and encouraging nursing staff to ask questions and pick up information.

21 November 2014