Evaluation by patients and caregivers of the effectiveness of a brochure developed to prevent pressure ulcers.

Introduction: We evaluated the opinions and recommendations of patients at moderate to high risk for pressure ulceration and their caregivers about discharge education and asked them to evaluate an educational brochure about pressure ulcer prevention.

Subjects And Setting: The study group comprised 33 hospital patients and 33 caregivers. Approximately half of the subjects (54.5%) were women and 60.5% were > or = 65 years of age. Slightly more than 60% were deemed at moderate risk and 39.4% were categorized at high risk for pressure ulceration based on Braden Scale scores. Eighteen percent of patients had a history of at least 1 pressure ulcer previously, but only 6.1% had received education about pressure ulcer prevention.

Materials And Methods: Data were collected over a 1-month period. The researchers provided a verbal educational intervention for patients and their care providers and then gave participants the educational brochure.

Results: Patients and care providers rated the language level and the effectiveness and usefulness of the knowledge in the pamphlet as "satisfactory" (45.5% of patients and 54.5% of caregivers). Age, sex, educational status, and history of pressure ulcer education were not related to the likelihood that participants would rank the brochure and teaching sessions as satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Conclusion: Both patients and families ranked an educational approach to pressure ulcer prevention that combined teaching sessions with written materials as satisfactory. Such education is especially important in countries such as Turkey, where the majority of care is provided by lay care providers (usually family members) in the home setting.