pressure ulcer frequency and risk factors based on norton scale at education and treatment centers in urmia university of medical sciences

pressure ulcer frequency and risk factors based on norton scale at education and treatment centers in urmia university of medical sciences     baghaei r [1] *, salmani azar n [2] , khalkhali hr [3] , fereidooni j.     received: 1 dec , 2012 accepted: 19 feb , 2013     abstract   background & aims : pressure ulcer or bed sores are one of the major problems in medicine. understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this condition are very important because of adverse effects of health condition and high costs of medical care. pressure ulcer frequently complicated by secondary infection than can be spreads to soft tissues, bones, osteomyelitis and sepsis and can lead is death. the aim of this study was to determine the frequency and risk factors for pressure ulcer based on norton&apos;s scale at educational centers of urmia university of medical sciences.   materials & methods : this cross-sectional study performed on 355 patients at centers in urmia university of medical sciences in 2011- 2012 by direct observation. all admitted patients at target wards (orthopedic, neurology, intensive care unit, neurosurgery, internal medicine, cardiology) visited at the first and every other day during 3 months and observed by norton scale. data obtained were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (chi- square test), and using spss 19 software.   result : the mean age of the 355 studied patients was 62.18 year with s.d. 17.91. the minimum age was 16 and the maximum age was 91 years. 54.9% of the patients were male and 45.1% were female. of 355 patients, 39.2 % (139 patient) developed pressure ulcers: 65/4% of ulcer was grade i , 36.6% grade ii, 0.1% grade iii ulcers. 15.8% of the ulcers developed on sacral, 2.7% on gluteal region, 5.6 on heel and head and 2 ulcers on lateral malleus. the most frequent risk factors in this study were prolonged hospitalization (78.3% for 31 days) and immobilizing due to stroke and trauma, aging (47.5% of the patients was 71 years). there was significant relationship between age and incidence of pressure ulcer (p<0.05).   conclusion: the study shows that the most prevalent risk factors were the after effects of prolonged hospitalization and immobilizing due to stroke and trauma. the study emphasizes on the recognizing of the predisposed cases to carry out the necessary actions to prevent the incidence of pressure ulcer.   keywords: pressure ulcer, bed sores, secondary infection, norton&apos;s scale     address: nursing and midwifery faculty, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran   tel: (+98) 441 2754961 email: [email protected]   [1] assistant professor of nursing, nursing and midwifery faculty, urmia university of medical sciences(corresponding author)*  [2] ma student nursing , nursing and midwifery faculty, urmia university of medical sciences   [3] assistant professor of public health faculty, urmia university of medical sciences