Evidence-based prevention and management of pressure injuries in home care: a scoping review

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the presence of evidence-based practice protocols for the prevention and management of pressure injuries (PIs) in home care settings, whether the contents of existing protocols were based on current evidence, and adherence to these protocols. DATA SOURCES: Comprehensive and structured literature searches were conducted using PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), PsycINFO, Ovid, Scopus, Web of Science, and Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Practice Database. STUDY SELECTION: A literature search retrieved 2,929 articles. Investigators evaluated the titles, abstracts, and full texts of the articles retrieved from the literature search in accordance with the review questions and eligibility criteria. The authors included four studies in this scoping review. DATA EXTRACTION: The researchers extracted details of the full-text articles, including author(s)/year of publication/country, aim(s), study population and sample size, study design, intervention type, outcomes, and key findings. DATA SYNTHESIS: The four articles included in this scoping review are descriptive cross-sectional studies published between 2005 and 2010. Although the articles provided significant data on the quality of practices for the prevention and management of PIs in home care, no studies reported on the achievement of objective results. CONCLUSIONS: The use of protocols for the prevention and management of PIs, including evidence-based interventions in home care, and adherence to existing protocols were low. Comprehensive observational and randomized controlled studies are necessary to improve evidence-based prevention and management of PIs in home care settings.