Identifying a Researchable Problem

Elderly persons comprise the largest proportion of the vulnerable persons in society. These people suffer from a wide range of debilitating conditions that require long-term care. Some of these conditions may lead to a long duration of hospitalization. The vulnerable nature of an older adult’s skin increases the risk of pressure ulcers during hospitalization (Emejulu, Nwadi & Obiegbu, 2015). This project focuses on the prevention of pressure ulcers among the elderly. It is irrefutable that the incidences of pressure ulcers have increased due to an increase in the number of elderly patients requiring long-term hospitalization.

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The risk of developing pressure ulcers increases significantly when intense pressure is exerted on certain parts of the body such as the heels, the elbows, and the lower back (Qaseem, Mir, Starkey, & Denberg, 2015). Various strategies have been devised in an attempt to reduce the risk and improve management of pressure ulcers. It is unfortunate that despite the presence of a wide range of modernized and effective pressure ulcer prevention strategies, nurses continue using outdated methods. This paper highlights a project that is aimed at determining whether the use of foam pillows is more effective than the use of water filled gloves in the prevention of pressure ulcers on the hells of hospitalized elderly patients.

Problem Statement

The problem being addressed in this paper is the use of water filled gloves to prevent pressure ulcers despite the presence of other highly effective strategies. Nurses in most health care organizations have adopted the use of water-filled gloves despite this strategy being outdated (Emejulu et al., 2015). Furthermore, the use of water filled gloves is not supported by evidence. Understandably prevention of pressure ulcers is dependent on the reduction of pressure on the affected areas. Nurses are usually advised to use methods that can achieve the right therapeutic pressure (Olkoski & Assis, 2016). However, most nurses tent to use water-filled gloves for this purpose. Unfortunately, the use of water-filed gloves is done haphazardly without putting into consideration that the pressure impact on the patient’s heels.

Relevance to Nursing Practice

The need to determine whether the use of foam pillows is more effective than water-filled gloves in the prevention of pressure ulcers is relevant to nursing practice. Since nurses play a direct role in patient care, they must apply evidence-based practice in all healthcare activities. The primary responsibility of the nurses is to ensure that the patient is providing with high- quality care services that not only improve the outcome of care but also minimizes the risk of health complication (Emejulu et al., 2015). If research determines that foam pillows produce better pressure ulcers’ prevention results than water-filled gloves, then organizational changes may be implemented to promote the use of foam pillows. Educational programs may also be conducted to increase awareness and sensitize nurses and healthcare leaders to support the use of foam pillows.

Research Questions

In this paper, five research questions were developed to help in generating practical information on whether foam pillows achieve better outcomes in the prevention of pressure ulcers than water-filled gloves. This project is intended to generate information that will help determine if foam pillows are better in the prevention of pressure ulcers are compared with water-filled gloves. The study is based on the perception that it is easier to achieve the right therapeutic pressure with foam pillows that gloves. In most cases, nurse use water-filled gloves due to the lack of the right density foam pillows. A lack of nurses, regarding the benefits of foam pillows in the prevention of pressure ulcers, might also have contributed to the increased use of water-filled gloves. The five research questions used for this project are:

1. Do water-filled gloves capable of preventing pressure ulcers on the heels of a hospitalized elderly patient?

2. Can foam pillows be used in the prevention of pressure ulcers?

3. Are foam pillows more effective than water-filled gloves in the prevention of pressure ulcers on the heels of a patient?

4. Do nurses prefer water-filled gloves to foam pillows in the prevention of pressure ulcers?

5. What measures can be put in place to sensitize nurses on the use of foam pillows to prevent pressure ulcers?

Picot Question

The PICOT question that will be used in this project is: “In hospitalized elderly patients, is the use of foam pillows more effective than water filled tied hand gloves in the prevention of pressure ulcers on the heels within one month?”

P- Population – hospitalized elderly patients

I- Intervention – foam pillows

C- Comparison – water-filled gloves

O- Outcome – prevention of pressure ulcers

T- Time - one month

Keywords

1. Pressure ulcers

2. Elderly patients

3. Water-filled gloves

4. Foam pillows

5. Prevention of pressure ulcers

6. Nurses knowledge

7. Health education

8. Therapeutic pressure

9.

10. Risk factors

Rationale

These keywords were selected since they address various issues regarding pressure ulcers including the risk factors, the patients a risk and the patients at risk. The use of keywords in research provides a base on which other researchers can easily access an article with relevant information on related research topics.