Governmental agencies have called upon healthcare organizations to take responsibility and accountability for those they serve. Almost 60,000 U.S. patients die from complications due to hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU). Healthcare costs increase when patients acquire a HAPU during hospitalization. A rural Medical Center’s 42-bed Medical Unit acquired 12 HAPU in 2013. Negative patient outcomes resulted in lower patient satisfaction, increased healthcare costs, and loss of reimbursement monies for Medicare beneficiaries. Positive quality patient outcomes and the highly satisfied patient/family drive reimbursement monies for healthcare services. The objective of this project was to provide an EBP Mentorship to decrease HAPU in 30 days by ensuring skin inspection was completed on every patient within 6 hours of admission, followed by timely re-inspection and, repositioning for all patients with a Braden Score of 14 or less.
