Collaborating to improve pressure ulcer prevention practices: The South Australian Experience

Abstract

An examination of the organisational uptake of the Australian Wound Management Association’s (AWMA) Guidelines for the Prediction and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers 1 in metropolitan hospitals across Adelaide identified that many were having difficulties implementing the recommendations, resulting in a continued high incidence and prevalence of pressure ulcer rates. As a result, the South Australian Hospitals Safety and Quality Council funded a project to support organisations implement and evaluate local evidence-based prevention and management frameworks. Two project officers facilitated the process, bringing organisations together at regular intervals to share successes and stories and to learn from experts and from each other in order to identify strategies for each phase of implementation. An evaluation at the completion of the project identified some gains by all organisations and all had developed strategies to continue the work into the future. Two participants’ stories are described here to demonstrate the outcomes and achievements gained from organisations collaborating and supporting each other to achieve organisational change. Whilst it is too early to demonstrate reductions in prevalence rates, the project was successful in the goals of the collaborative, ensuring that all participants had truly begun the task of implementing and evaluating robust and comprehensive evidence-based prevention and management frameworks across the continuum of care.