Pressure injury management: Risk assessment, prevention and treatment

Published: November 2024
Available in English
Clinical

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this guideline is to provide nurses, members of the interprofessional team and other collaborators (i.e., administrators and policy-makers) with evidence-based recommendations for risk assessment, prevention, and treatment of pressure injuries .  This BPG provides…

The purpose of this guideline is to provide nurses, members of the interprofessional team and other collaborators (i.e., administrators and policy-makers) with evidence-based recommendations for risk assessment, prevention, and treatment of pressure injuries . 

This BPG provides evidence-based recommendations for nurses, and the interprofessional team, and persons and their caregivers across all care settings and sectors. The recommendations address the prevention of pressure injuries for at-risk people, and the assessment and management of those living with pressure injuries.

Overall, the scope includes:

  • all domains of nursing practice;
  • all health-care settings and sectors;
  • all populations across the lifespan (e.g., pediatric, adult and older adult), including their caregiver/chosen family; and all types of pressure injuries, including those medical device-related.

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Guideline overview
Reference

Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (2024). Pressure injury management: Risk assessment, prevention and treatment, Fourth Edition. Toronto, ON: Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.

Recommendations

Do you want to learn about and implement the most- up-to-date evidence-based recommendations on this topic with your colleagues? Download and share the full best practice guideline (BPG), Pressure injury management: Risk assessment, prevention and treatment.

See below for a snapshot of the recommendations from this BPG. We strongly suggest you review the full BPG before implementing the recommendations and good practice statements. The BPG also includes further resources to support implementation and evaluation.  

Disclaimer: These guidelines are not binding for nurses, other health providers or the organizations that employ them. The use of these guidelines should be flexible and based on individual needs and local circumstances. They constitute neither a liability nor discharge from liability. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents at the time of publication, neither the authors nor the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) gives any guarantee as to the accuracy of the information contained in them or accepts any liability with respect to loss, damage, injury or expense arising from any such errors or omission in the contents of this work.

Revision status

Current edition published 2024.

This BPG replaces two of RNAO’s BPGs Risk Assessment and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers (2005, with 2011 revision) and Assessment and Management of Pressure Injuries for the Interprofessional Team (2016). 

Contact

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