ObjectiveTo investigate the operation and effect of pressure ulcers group (PUG) on the procedure of clinical management of pressure ulcers. MethodsThe in-hospital patients with high-risk pressure ulcers and patients with pressure ulcers from outside of the hospital (n=145) before the founding of PUG in 2011 were regarded as group A, and patients in this group were treated by traditional therapies. After PUG was founded in our hospital in January 2012, 192 patients with high-risk pressure ulcers and from outside of the hospital in 2012 were considered as group B. In addition, group C contained 380 patients treated in 2013. Group B and C were both treated by PUG that developed a management system of pressure ulcers and took active measures to control and prevent pressure ulcers. PUG trained 30 clinical nurse supervisors, who were recommended from relevant clinical departments. The incidence of inevitable pressure ulcer of hospitalized patients, the cure rate of patients with pressure ulcers from outside of the hospital, pressure ulcer knowledge level of clinical nurse supervisors were comparatively analyzed between group A and B, and between group A and C, respectively. ResultsAfter the establishment of PUG, the incidence of inevitable pressure ulcer of hospitalized patients in group A, B, and C was 76.20%, 17.02%, and 14.61%, respectively. The cure rate of patients from outside of the hospital was 54.84%, 86.84%, and 87.97%, respectively. Differences between group A and B, and between group A and C both were significant (P<0.01). The pressure ulcer knowledge level of all nurse supervisors improved significantly (P<0.001). ConclusionThe establishment of PUG makes the clinical pressure ulcer management more scientific and objective. Furthermore, it can effectively reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers, and also improve the quality of medical care and ensure the safety of patients.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the effect of pre-treating the catheters with dexamethasone for preventing PICC-associated phlebitis. MethodsWe electronically searched PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2012), CNKI, CBM, WanFang Data and CQVIP for studies about pre-treating the catheters with dexamethasone to prevent PICC-associated phlebitis from inception to March 2013. Relevant studies including grey literature were also manually searched. Two reviewers independently screened studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and evaluated the methodological quality of the included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using the software RevMan 5.0. ResultsA total of 13 studies involving 1 965 cases (1 025 cases in the dexamethasone group, and 940 cases in the control group) were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that pre-treating the catheters with dexamethasone could significantly decrease the incidence of PICC-associated phlebitis (RR=0.29, 95%CI=0.22 to 0.39, P < 0.000 1). However, no significant difference was found for the PICC-associated other complications, such as pipe blockage, bleeding, swelling of puncture site, allergy and atopic catheter. ConclusionPre-treating the catheters with dexamethasone soltion before inserting could reduce the incidence of PICC-associated phlebitis. The aforementioned conclusion needs to be further validated by more high-quality and large-scale randomized controlled trials.