Pressure Ulcer News and Research

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Pressure ulcers are commonly called bed sores or pressure sores. They are skin lesions that may also affect underlying tissues and are caused when the skin or the tissues are put under repeated and regular pressure or stress.

New, single-exposure imaging tool puts biomedical imaging in palm of hands

Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a narrowband filter mosaic that will expand the uses and functionality of multispectral imaging-a technology that enables subsurface characterization.

20 May 2008

Cervical collars superior in immobilization and reduction of pressure

Ossur, an emerging leader in the non-invasive orthopaedics market following several acquisitions and a period of integration, has announced that the Journal of Trauma has published the long-awaited results of a two year cervical collar study performed by the Mayo Clinic.

13 Dec 2007

VAC therapy for wound healing questioned

The effectiveness and value of an increasingly popular treatment used in the treatment of long term wounds are questioned in this month's Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB)

1 Aug 2007

Preventive techniques greatly reduce pressure ulcers

Working together to reduce the occurrence of pressure ulcers in patients throughout various care settings, members of the New Jersey Hospital Association's Pressure Ulcer Collaborative have reported a 70 percent reduction in the incidence of new pressure ulcers after nearly two years of applying shared best practices and preventive techniques.

18 Jul 2007

State snapshots highlights gains and lags in health care quality

AHRQ's State Snapshots Web tool was launched in 2005. It is an application that helps state health leaders, researchers, consumers, and others understand the status of health care quality in individual states, including each state's strengths and weaknesses.

14 Jun 2007

Care received in chain-owned nursing homes generally not on par with care received in nonprofit and singly-owned nursing homes

Standard marketing and strategic planning practices can hurt patient care throughout a nursing home chain, but only if too much emphasis is placed on such administrative standards to the detriment of clinical and facility standards, a new study indicates.

22 May 2007

90% of veterans' hospital facility problems are routine 'wear and tear'

Routine maintenance issues account for 90% of the 1,100 problems found in the nation's 1,400 Veterans Affairs' health clinics and hospitals, according to a report released Wednesday based on a review ordered by VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

22 Mar 2007

Nurses suffer from work-related low back pain more often than workers in other professions

Nurses offer care and comfort, but they often end up with a pain in the back for their efforts, the results of a new study show.

6 Aug 2006

Bedsores and bald hides: novel roles revealed for a "scaffolding" protein

A protein long thought to provide only mechanical support for keeping cells and tissues from literally falling apart turns out to have much wider utility.

17 May 2006

Hip surgery in the elderly and obese, orthopaedic research emphasizes need for complete preoperative assessments

As many Americans continue to grow older, another large part of the population is faced with the growing problem of obesity: both of these conditions can adversely impact mobility and ultimately, patients' independence.

23 Mar 2006

Australian lambskin pressure care products granted FDA approval in the U.S.

Export opportunities into the lucrative American market have been thrown wide open for a unique South Australian range of medical lambskin products.

11 Aug 2005

First evaluation of California's much-watched ratios law

There has been much controversy regarding implementation of legislation to regulate hospital nurse-patient staffing ratios and its impact on patient safety and quality outcomes.

9 Aug 2005

Study sheds new light on the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of chronic wounds

A study conducted by NYU School of Medicine researchers, in collaboration with the Wound Healing Program at Columbia University, sheds new light on the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of chronic wounds.

26 Jun 2005

Shock wave therapy shows remarkable results in wound healing and curing myocardial diseases

Effective, non-invasive and practically without side effects - extracorporeal shock wave therapy has demonstrated impressive results not only in orthopedics and traumatology, but also in treating fresh and chronic wounds as well as circulatory disorders of the myocardial muscle.

31 May 2005

Researchers examine nursing home quality of care

Not-for-profit homes in the United States generally provide better care than their for-profit cousins, says a new study by University of Toronto researchers.

20 Apr 2005

Patient safety measures work at children’s hospitals

In recent years, children's hospitals have joined in the national push to improve patient safety and avoid preventable problems. But it has been hard to measure progress, because of uncertainty about whether standard patient safety measurement tools apply to their patients, who are younger, smaller and on average sicker than those at other hospitals.

4 Jan 2005

Wound healers cause skin disease

Dutch researcher Manon Franssen has shown that cells which heal the skin following an injury play an important role in the development of the skin disease psoriasis. In people with psoriasis, the skin peels much faster than normal so that it flakes and becomes inflamed.

11 Oct 2004

40 percent of African-American nursing home residents living in low-tier facilities

Racial and socioeconomic disparities are widespread in U.S. nursing homes, new Brown University research shows, with 40 percent of African-American nursing home residents living in low-tier facilities.

21 Jun 2004

Revolutionary self healing bandage that uses the patient's own cells

A revolutionary type of 'self healing' bandage that uses the patient's own cells is being developed. The technique has already been tried successfully on patients with diabetic ulcers and in the long-term could offer a more effective, quicker and cost efficient way of treating many types of slow-healing wounds such as pressure ulcers.

24 May 2004

Antimicrobial alginate dressing protects the wound with silver

Johnson & Johnson Wound Management today announced the introduction of SILVERCEL™ antimicrobial alginate dressing, providing the protection of silver and the absorption of alginate.

13 Apr 2004