Pressure sores: the views and practices of senior hospital doctors

Abstract

A survey of 34 senior hospital doctors in Nottingham, in the Department of Orthopaedic and Accident Surgery and the Health Care of the Elderly Department, was undertaken by interview to discover their views on the management of pressure sores. The majority of doctors (85%) favoured the 'team' approach to pressure sore management, but the other responses suggest that, in fact, they see nurses as having a greater role than themselves in prevention and care. They also favoured greater nursing input rather than the use of pressure relieving devices in pressure sore management. The predicted problems of maintaining nurse staffing levels and an increase in the population at risk of sustaining pressure sores would combine to make the doctors' wishes impossible to achieve.

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