Escala para medir riesgo de úlceras por presión en niños con ventilación mecánica invasiva.

Introduction: Early and appropriate care has been implemented since the scales to assess the risk of pressure ulcers have been required to identify patients with this condition. However, several of these scales have had to be designed according to the context of action. Objective: To propose a risk assessment scale for pressure ulcer in pediatric patients with mechanical ventilation. Methods: A quantitative and qualitative study was carried out at the José Luis Miranda Hospital in two stages: in the first stage, through the binary logistic regression method, the risk factors of pressure ulcers that most affected a population of 550 ventilated patients were determined. In the second stage, a nominal group formed by nine specialists selected the items that would make up the scale and their ranges of measurements from the information collected in a non-participatory observation guide that was applied to patients. Results: The risk factors related to the appearance of pressure ulcers in pediatric patients with artificial mechanical ventilation were immobility and the use of relaxants. Conclusions: A scale was designed to predict the risk of pressure ulcers in ventilated pediatric patients. It consists of eight items; they have three scoring alternatives ranging from one to three (the value 1 represents the greatest deterioration and the value 3 the least). The risk is determined by three categories: maximum for scores between 8 and 13, medium for values between 14 and 19 and minimum between 20 and 24 points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]