Our team of expert podiatrists provides a wide range of treatments for different conditions, as evidenced by the case studies presented below. These studies provide useful information on the patient's symptoms, diagnosis, treatment plan, outcome of care, and research. We are dedicated to delivering personalized and high-quality podiatric care to all of our patients with empathy. We adhere to the philosophy of creating comprehensive and efficient treatment strategies that are tailored to each patient's individual needs and circumstances, ensuring a speedy and complete recovery.
The prevalence of pressure injuries in US long-term care facilities ranges from 8.2% to 32.2%. These occurrences are significant as pressure injuries can result in serious health consequences such as non-healing wounds, infection on a local and systemic level, surgical debridement, amputation of lower extremities, decrease in function, and ultimately loss of life. Pressure injuries not only impact the patient’s health outcome but also place a heavy financial burden on our healthcare system. Annual treatment costs in the United States are estimated at $9.1 to $11.6 billion. Despite increased incidents and costs, most pressure injuries are preventable. Therefore, implementing an effective and efficient way to prevent pressure injuries should be a priority.
Unfortunately, “being a resident” in a long-term care facility in itself is a “risk factor for pressure injures”. Even so, researchers are questioning the accuracy of reported pressure injury incidents by long-term care facilities. Approximately, 45% of pressure injuries were not reported by nursing homes between 2011 and 2017. If almost 50% of pressure injury cases are not reported, prevention becomes much more important to maintain. Various research has identified difficulties in treating pressure injuries due to factors such as frequent personnel turnover, the absence of wound care treatment doctors or nurses, and a lack of effective training for staff.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) created “Preventing Pressure Ulcer in Hospitals Toolkit” and started providing the “Pressure Injury Prevention in Hospitals Training Program”. The program by AHRQ is very detailed and thorough on how to prevent pressure injuries; however, it may be a bit complicated for individuals without proper medical education to comprehend. It is important that in an educational environment, providing training/instructions to every individual, regardless of education or experience level, is as important as the content of the education. Therefore, educational tools need to be developed to appeal to multiple types of learners. Current training programs to prevent pressure injuries do not consider learners’ abilities to comprehend.
The objectives of this study are to:
This study will identify issues, challenges, and opportunities in implementing such a training program.