Pressure Ulcers in patients at a General Zone Hospital

Abstract

Objective: to determine the prevalence of pressure ulcers in patients at a General Hospital Zone no. 30 of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (imss) in Baja California, Mexico. Methods: cross-sectional study, by reviewing and collecting data of patients with pressure ulcer reported in the Wound Clinic registry. The program spss v. 21 was used to analyze data by descriptive statistics; central trend measures, percentages and frequencies were obtained. Results: 470 cases of pressure ulcers were found. Women predominated and the majority of cases were patients over 70 years. The Internal Medicine service had the highest number of cases, 79.15% (n=372). The most common anatomical location was in the sacral region 58.94% (n=277). The most common severity degree was grade ii in 61.06% of patients (n=287). The hospital stay range with the highest number of cases was two to seven days with 37.87% of the reported cases (n=178). Conclusions: The elderly were the most often affected patients with pressure ulcers. Its location and severity degree are recurrent complications in this type of condition. Prevention and early identification strategies should be implemented to decrease their incidence.