EPUAP Pressure Ulcer Curriculum: Module 3 – Measuring incidence and prevalence of PUs/PIs

The purpose of the EPUAP PU Curriculum is to guide health professionals in the creation and implementation of protocols/guidelines/instructions for the prevention and treatment of PU/PI. The aim of the curriculum is to help standardise PU/PI care, implement existing tools (for risk identification and PU/PI grading) and clinical guidelines, support the development of high-level, evidence-based implementation strategies, and promote the use of effective tools in the prevention and treatment of PU/PI.

This module aims to increase knowledge of methodologies for monitoring the epidemiology of PUs/PIs and to enhance data use and interpretation, as a basis for evidence-based quality care.

At the end of this module, the learner practitioner will be able to:

Identify international and national strategies/registries for collecting and processing PU/PI prevalence
Identify relevant research in relation to PU/PI prevalence and incidence studies in all healthcare settings
Outline methodologies for the collection, calculation and processes of prevalence and incidence data
Explain the relationship between epidemiological data and quality of care, cost effectiveness and the avoidance of adverse events
Identify issues and challenges in collecting, calculating, processing PU/PI prevalence and incidence data
Implement international and national strategies for PU/PI epidemiological data collection and usage
Analyse and compare the prevalence and incidence data on PUs/PIs as indicators of quality of care and present/publish these results
Provide education to health professionals with regard to the collection and interpretation of incidence and prevalence data
Be aware of the importance of a regular and consistent processing of the epidemiological data and the possible impact on pressure ulcer reduction, cost-savings, avoidance of adverse events and increase of patients’ quality of life
Advocate for the use of epidemiological data in planning new strategies to reduce PU/PI prevalence and incidence rates and improve the quality of care
and many more!