Modeling Patient Risk for Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries During COVID-19: A Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 negatively impacts many organ systems including the skin. One of the most significant skin-associated adverse events related to hospitalization are pressure injuries. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine 8 risk factors that would place hospitalized patients at a higher risk for hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A retrospective, descriptive analysis was conducted in an urban academic health science center located in the southeastern United States. RESULTS: There were 247 of 23 093 patients who had pressure injuries and 1053 patients who had a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Based on the generalized estimating equation model, diagnosis of COVID-19, age, male gender, risk of mortality, severity of illness, and length of stay are statistically significant factors associated with the development of HAPIs. CONCLUSIONS: Further study should explore pathology of COVID-19 skin changes and what interventions are effective against HAPIs in the COVID-19 population taking into consideration current treatments.

Learning During Crisis: The Impact of COVID-19 on Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury Incidence.

ABSTRACT: The impact of COVID-19, on the health and safety of patients, staff, and healthcare organizations, has yet to be fully uncovered. Patient adverse events, such as hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs), have been problematic for decades. The introduction of a pandemic to an environment that is potentially at-risk for adverse events may result in unintended patient safety and quality concerns. We use the learning health system framework to motivate our understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of HAPIs within our health system. Using a retrospective, observational design, we used descriptive statistics to evaluate trends in HAPI from March to July 2020. Hospital-acquired pressure injury numbers have fluctuated from a steady increase from March-May 2020, hitting a peak high of 90 cases in the month of May. However, the trend in the total all stage HAPIs began to decline in June 2020, with a low of 51 in July, the lowest number since March 2020. Patients evaluated in this study did not have a longitudinal increase in HAPIs from March-July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite similarities in illness severity between the two time points. Our experience has demonstrated the ability of our organizational leaders to learn quickly during crisis.