Patient accounts of pressure ulcer prevention following fractured hip
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patient accounts of pressure ulcer prevention following fractured neck of femur.
IRAS ID
169065
Contact name
Dawn H. Royall
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Hertfordshire
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 14 days
Research summary
Annually in the UK, approximately 412,000 people will develop a pressure ulcer which equates to 4% of all hospitalised patients (Bennett, Dealey and Posnett, 2004). Even with all the modern advances in medicine and prevention strategies including pressure relieving mattresses, turning regimes, regular skin checks and assessment, there is still no way of preventing them in all cases (Callaghan, 2013).
The purpose of this study is to look at the experiences of hip fracture patients and their perceptions of pressure ulcer prevention within an acute medical/surgical ward. Semi structured interviews will facilitate reflections of patient experience and how much patients are involved in pressure ulcer prevention. Fractured neck of femur patients are an extremely high risk group with an incidence 8.8-55% of patients sustaining a pressure ulcer (Lindholm et al., 2008). Patient involvement is relatively under-utilised as a strategy in pressure ulcer prevention. The literature shows that this is yet to be fully exploited area and therefore requires addressing.
This is a qualitative study and will examine data generated from semi-structured interviews. The study site will be a 28 bedded, fractured neck of femur ward in an acute district general hospital. Patients will be recruited from this setting and then subsequently interviewed in their own home following discharge from hospital. Mixed sex patients aged 65 years and over, who have fractured their hip, undergone surgical repair and spent their post-operative recovery in an acute setting would be selected for inclusion and form the research population using quota sampling. It is anticipated that 20-30 interviews will be carried out to provide adequate data. These will be digitally recorded for every participant and last approximately 45-90 minutes. Patients will be interviewed in their own home or can come back to the hospital at a time agreeable to the researcher and the patient.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EM/0051
Date of REC Opinion
3 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion