Examination of factors affecting the development of pressure sore on patients who were exposed to open heart surgery

Objective: The study was performed in an attempt to determine the pressure sore incidence on patients who were exposed to open heart surgery and examine the factors affecting the formation of pressure sore peculiar to the open heart surgery.Method: The study was conducted in the Operating Room and Intensive Care Units of Dokuz Eylul University Hospital, Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic between April ? October 2011. The sample of the study was consisted of 118 patients. Patient Introductory Information Form, Assessment Form of Pressure Sore in Cardiac Surgery and Braden Risk Assessment Scale were used as the data collection tools. SPSS 15 packaged software, number, percentage, average, standart deviation, t test, binocular and multispan chi square analysis methods were used for the analyses of the data.Findings: While the age average of patients who were included in the study sample was 58.72±12.48. It was determined that regarding the patients who were included in the study, 30.5% were female, 69.5% were male and there was no statistically significant difference related with the development of pressure sore, according to the definitive features (p>0.05). At the end of the study, while the pressure sore prevalence was found as 36.4% in the intensive care unit, it was found as 53.4% in the clinic following the open heart surgery. A statistically significant difference was found between the operation time, mechanic ventilation time, sedation time, first mobilization time of patients, their post operative albumen levels and development of pressure sore (p<0.05).Conclusion: According to the study results, surgery time, mechanic ventilation time, extension of the sedation time and retardation of the first mobilization play a role on the development of pressure sore, regarding the patients who are exposed to open heart surgery. Therefore, the application of planned nursing care is suggested in order to prevent the development of pressure sore on patients, who remain under surgery for a long time, stay in the intensive care unit for more than 48 hours, are exposed to sedation and thus have a retarded mobilization. It is important to enable the early mobilization of patients and monitorize their hemodynamic and laboratory findings regularly.