SCI Health Care Provider Attitudes About Pressure Ulcer Management

Guihan ML, Goldstein B, Smith B, Schwartz A, Manheim L. SCI Health Care Provider Attitudes About Pressure Ulcer Management. Paper presented at: American Paraplegia Society Annual Meeting; 2001 Sep 1; Las Vegas, NV.

Introduction: Although the Spinal cord Injury (SCI) Medicine Consortium Clinical Practice Guidelines addressing the treatment of pressure ulcers in person with SCI has recently been released, there is still considerable controversy about how best to treat pressure ulcers. Treatment of pressure ulcers is expensive and can have a negative impact on patient quality of life. To better understand tretment issues, we examined provider attitudes regarding topics including preferences for initial management (surgical vs. non-surgical management), location of treatment (hospital vs. home), and how healed the ulcer needed to be before discharge should occur. We also questioned providers about issues that influence care management, including inpatient resource availability, the availability and quality of local home care, and specific treatment issues (including availability and use of formal care protocols).