Episode 38: Pressure Ulcers- Prevention and Management

In this episode Dr. Chester Ho discusses pressure ulcers and their causes, costs, prevention and management. He also elaborates on the methods already in place for handling pressure ulcers, and most importantly, decreasing their incidence of occurrence. Finally he talks about his involvement in a project with the W21C and the University of Calgary, testing the use of pressure sensing technology to effectively prevent pressure ulcers from forming.

After listening to this episode, listeners will be able to:
Recognize that pressure ulcers are common and under-recognized as a patient safety issue.
Pressure ulcers are largely preventable and are indicative of patient quality of care.
Pressure ulcers are expensive to treat and cause great discomfort to patients, decreasing quality of life.

Chester Ho, MD
Email: chester.ho@albertahealthservices.ca
Dr. Chester Ho is Associate Professor and Head of the Division of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary, Canada. He completed his PM&R residency training at the Harvard Medical School/Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, MA, and fellowship training in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Medicine at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey/Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation. He was Chief of SCI at the Cleveland VA Medical Center between 2006 and 2011. Dr. Ho has a special clinical and research interest in pressure ulcers (PU) and SCI rehabilitation. Since joining the University of Calgary in 2011, Dr. Ho has become a member of the Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (AIHS) Interdisciplinary Team for Smart Neural Prostheses, a collaborative team grant between the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary, with a specific focus on the PU program. He is currently the Project Lead for the Ward of the 21st Century Collaborative Research and Innovation Opportunities team grant by AIHS, studying the effects of the use of a sensing device on interface pressure outcomes. His research has been funded by AIHS, Rick Hansen Institute and Brain Canada.

Read More:
Useful links from the RNAO
http://rnao.ca/bpg/guidelines/risk-assessment-and-prevention-pressure-ulcers
http://rnao.ca/bpg/guidelines/assessment-and-management-stage-i-iv-pressure-ulcers

Useful links to other organizations
The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel:  http://www.npuap.org/
The European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel: http://www.epuap.org/
The Canadian Association of Wound Care: http://cawc.net/
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE): https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg179