What timeframe is, and isn’t acceptable for a hospital-acquired pressure injury?

A question Kathy has asked herself and her colleagues repeatedly during her 30-year nursing career. Fueled by her passion for nursing and with the support of the Bank First scholarship, Kathy set out to find some answers.  

In a world where nurses often find themselves under intense pressure and facing burn out, Kathy’s story inspires.  

The scholarship funds gave Kathy the space to take time off from her busy clinical work to really focus on one issue:

To identify the timeframes used internationally to report hospital-acquired pressure injuries and to obtain expert consensus to on what time frame defines a hospital-acquired pressure injury. 

Kathy’s research involved the collation of information from 43 individuals (42 of those are nurses) from 11 countries based around hospital acquired pressure injury timeframes. 

The results?  

Currently, hospital-acquired pressure injury timeframes, as defined by individual hospitals around the world, range from 0 hours to 96 hours from admission to hospital. 

Using Kathy’s research, a panel of experts from around the world, agreed on an international definition which will form a benchmark for further improvements in this area of nursing.  

An International Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury is now to be defined as occurring over eight hours and up to 24 hours following admission. 

Kathy’s research isn’t just a statistical triumph; it’s a testament to the power of support and recognition in nursing. In a world where nurses are often overlooked, Kathy’s journey serves as a reminder of the impact one individual can make with the right resources, support and determination. 

Not only has Kathy’s research set a benchmark from which all data is now measured, she's now sharing her results. After our meeting in early February 2024, Kathy was scheduled to travel to the States to present her findings to an international audience and is close to formally publishing her results.