Preventing hospital acquired foot pressure injury
Western Australian podiatrist, Jo Scheepers, recently wrote a fascinating article in Wounds International 2018 – entitled “Assessment and consideration of foot risk factors is essential for proactive prevention of hospital-acquired foot pressure injuries.” In essence she compared the ability of both the Braden Scale and the Foot Risk Factors tool (derived from the National Health and Medical Research Council diabetic evidenced-based foot guidelines 2011) to predict the risk of foot pressure injury. In only 36% of cases did both tools agree on the level of “risk”. Importantly, it was observed that the Braden Scale underestimated the pressure injury risk to feet in 52% of the study population (132 patients). She recommends that all patients with peripheral arterial disease, diabetes, neuropathy, current foot ulcers or amputation be considered as “high risk” of pressure injury – regardless of the Braden score.