Pressure Mapping Comparison of Four OR Surfaces.

Mortality and health care costs associated with hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs) increase yearly. After four hours of surgery, the risk of developing a pressure ulcer increases by 33% for every 30 minutes of surgery. Prolonged immobility, lower blood pressures, and increased surface interface pressure may hinder the blood supply delivered to the skin, eventually leading to pressure ulcers.

Hospital-acquired pressure ulcer prevention: a burn surgeon's team approach.

Hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs) are a problem that has been under increased scrutiny in recent years. To help reduce the incidence of HAPUs and to improve their management, a burn unit-centered wound care team was established. The team decided to pursue two goals: to identify opportunities for improvement that may help prevent HAPUs and to evaluate all available support surfaces to identify those that might best help with pressure redistribution.

Using the Mehran risk scoring tool to predict risk for contrast medium-induced nephropathy in patients undergoing percutaneous angiography.

Background: Patients who have radiological imaging with contrast material are at risk for contrast medium-induced nephropathy, reduced renal function, longer hospitalizations, and renal failure requiring dialysis.

Objective: To determine whether the Mehran risk scoring tool can be used to predict changes in hospitalized patients who had percutaneous angiography.

Methods: Data on 196 patients admitted for cardiac angiography who had Mehran risk scores higher than 6 were analyzed retrospectively.