SSKIN: A five step model for pressure ulcer prevention
NHS Midlands and East (the new regional SHA cluster compromising NHS East Midlands, NHS West Midlands and NHS East of England) have set an ambitious goal to eliminate avoidable grade 2, 3 and 4 pressure ulcers by December 2012 and are turning their attention to providing excellent nutritional BAPEN Meets NHS Midlands and East for a Focus on Nutrition and Hydrationcare…
Download the posters in PDF format:
Poster 1
Poster 2
The NHS Midlands and East Campaign
SSKIN is a five step model for pressure ulcer prevention:
- Surface: make sure your patients have the right support
- Skin inspection: early inspection means early detection. Show patients & carers what to look for
- Keep your patients moving
- Incontinence/moisture: your patients need to be clean and dry
- Nutrition/hydration: help patients have the right diet and plenty of fluids
SSKIN is embedded into to the Pressure Ulcer Path, developed by NHS Midlands and East, and its prevention and treatment bundles.
Stop the Pressure demonstrates the impact of pressure ulcers on patients in a very striking way, motivating staff. It takes less than two minutes to watch, going on to take you through SSKIN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRYxmWKE-PI.
Staff can then apply SSKIN in the new Pressure Ulcer Path which has been developed by the SHA to guide them step by step through the process of screening, assessing, preventing and treating pressure ulcers.
These two tools kick off a major campaign to motivate staff to prevent and treat pressure ulcers, as an extension to the ‘I trust you to care…’ campaign. It will include tools to help staff communicate clearly with patients and carers. See the Key messages.
Key messages
- 95% of pressure ulcers are preventable
- They cause patients long term pain and distress
- And can mean longer stays in hospital
- Treating pressure ulcers costs the NHS more than £3.8 million every day
- The time and money spent treating pressure ulcers means some patients may not always get the care they need
- Giving clear information on what to look for helps patients and carers avoid pressure ulcers
- Simple steps prevent pressure ulcers (SSKIN)
- The new Pressure Ulcer Path: Prevent and Treat, Step by Step should make it easier for you to care for patients.
Speaking at the launch event this week, in her capacity as Programme Director for the QIPP Safe Care Programme, BAPEN’s Secretary, Ailsa Brotherton congratulated NHS Midlands and East for their outstanding nursing and clinical leadership and vision and urged the audience to put themselves forward to join the first SHA wide nutrition steering board and to get behind the campaign.
BAPEN’s Contributions: Initial discussions were held this week between BAPEN and Lyn McIntyre, Associate Nurse Director – Ambition Leadership at the SHA, to discuss and plan how to spread excellent nutritional practice and how to share resources.
BAPEN’s Quality Group, chaired by Dr Mike Stroud, have agreed to produce a range of resources to support organisations working to improve nutritional care as part of this visionary campaign. We will be developing a narrative describing ‘what good nutritional care looks like’ so senior executive teams can assess at a glance if their Trusts have the right expertise, e.g. nutrition nurses, a nutrition steering committee and a nutrition support team. As part of this work we are developing a quality improvement guide for nutrition and updating the BAPEN Commissioning Toolkit to reflect the recent changes to commissioning.
BAPEN is fully committed to working collaboratively with NHS Midlands and East and our core groups to support this ambitious initiative and to maximize the opportunities it creates to improve nutritional care across the Midlands and East, with the hope that this model can be spread across the UK.
If you work in the Midlands and East regions then please get involved in this work. Find out what is happening locally and help us to be the generation of health professionals who eliminate avoidable malnutrition and pressure ulcers.
Author: Dr Ailsa Brotherton
