NURS5012 Assessment and Clinical Judgement - Assignment Help on Reliability and Validity of a Clinical Assessment Tool

Introduction

Pressure ulcers are a healthcare menace that are increasingly claiming high costs to healthcare institutions (Cooper, 2013). Not only do these demand efficient nursing, but they are also uncomfortable and painful for the patients (Gould, et. al., 2004). I am a registered nurse in Saudi Arabia and had worked in long-term care ward for almost four years. I am assigned under wound care nurses’ team in the hospital, where our role is to look after the patients who facing ulcer issues.  Serpa, et. al. (2009) defined pressure ulcers in their work as a localised injury to the skin and the underlying tissues, primarily over bony structures in the body due to pressure or friction. Pressure ulcers usually occur to patients who are wheelchair-bound or bedbound for long hours through the day, but these are particularly common in elderly patients because they lack mobility, have poor diet and suffer from urinary continence (NHS, 2017). This is why the patient population for discussion in this article is chosen to be elderly hospitalised patients in Australia. The prevalence of pressure ulcers in the acute-care hospitals in Australia ranges between 4.5% and 27% (Prentice & Stacey, 2001). And a study by Nguyen, Chaboyer and Whitty (2014) revealed that such pressure injuries constitute a large economic burden for the country. Nevertheless, it is possible to avoid such huge costs with planning and prevention strategies. Prevention is essential to avoid the negative outcomes of pressure ulcers in both patients and the healthcare system (Serpa, et. al., 2009).

In the hospital setting, the cornerstone for pressure ulcer risk prevention strategies are the various screening tools like the Norton Scale, Braden Scale, Waterlow Scale, etc. which are considered useful in predicting pressure ulcer development risks in hospitalised patients. This article aims to focus on the reliability and validity of the Waterlow Scale in particular, among the elderly patients hospitalised in Australia. Five primary research articles are chosen for the purpose, of which three particularly focus on the reliability and validity of the Waterlow Scale, while the other two study the usefulness of pressure ulcer risk assessment tools in general.