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Health Quality Ontario’s Pressure Injuries Quality Standard focuses on care for people who have developed or are at risk of developing a pressure injury. The scope of the standard covers all settings, including primary care, home and community care, long-term care, and acute care. It also provides guidance on optimal care when a person transitions between these settings—for example, when someone is discharged from a hospital to their home or a long-term care home.

The quality standard includes 13 quality statements addressing areas that have high potential for improving the quality of care in Ontario for people with pressure injuries.

Below is a sample of tools that may help you with the implementation of the quality statements into practice, organized according to purpose. Several of these tools will help to support multiple quality statements.

Are there other tools or resources you use? Do you have experience implementing these tools? If you have feedback about any of these tools, please use the comments section below to share!

Individualized Care Plan

The tools and resources identified in the following three sections (Risk and Skin Assessment; Patient Education and Self-Management; and Comprehensive Assessment) could also be used to support the development of an individualized care plan.

Risk and Skin Assessment*

• Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Sore Risk—a widely used scale to help health professionals assess a patient’s risk of developing a pressure injury
• InterRAI Pressure Ulcer Risk Scale—a scale shared by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario that assesses the risk of developing pressure ulcers among facility-based residents and home care recipients

*Tools from this section can also be used to support the development of an individualized care plan.

Patient Education and Self-Management*

• My Pressure Injury—tips and information from the South West Regional Wound Care Program for patients and caregivers on how to care for a loved one’s pressure injury
• Preventing and Treating Pressure Sores—a guide from the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation for self-management of pressure injuries for people with spinal cord injuries
• Resources for Patients, Caregivers, and Health Care Professionals—information and resources compiled by Wounds Canada for patients, caregivers, and health care professionals about wound care

*Tools from this section can also be used to support the development of an individualized care plan.

Comprehensive Assessment*

• Bates-Jensen Wound Assessment Tool—a standardized tool from the Waterloo Wellington Integrated Wound Care Program designed for the assessment, communication, and tracking of wounds
• Nutrition Guideline: Pressure Injuries Prevention and Management—nutrition guidelines by Alberta Health Services for prevention and management for pressure injuries

*Tools from this section can also be used to support the development of an individualized care plan.

Support Surfaces

• Navigating the Maze of Support Surfaces—an article in American Nurse Today that discusses how support surfaces can help prevent pressure injuries
• Support Surface Selection Tool—a resource shared by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario to select the appropriate support surface for people with pressure injuries

Repositioning

• Repositioning and Pressure Injury Prevention—an article from Wound Source with tips for repositioning to prevent pressure injuries

Surgical Consultation

• NPIAP Pressure Injury Stages—a description of pressure injury stages by the US National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP; formerly NPUAP), as discussed in the background section of Quality Statement 11 of the Pressure Injuries quality standard

Comprehensive Tools and Resources to the Pressure Injuries Quality Standard

The following tools and/or resources may apply to more than one topic in the Pressure Injuries quality standard:

• Assessment and Management of Pressure Injuries for the Interprofessional Team—a guideline (3rd edition) developed by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario
• Best Practice Recommendations for the Prevention and Management of Pressure Injuries (please refer to Chapter 3)—a comprehensive resource from Wounds Canada to prevent and manage pressure injuries
• Preventing Pressure Ulcers in Hospitals—tools and resources from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to prevent pressure ulcers in hospitals
• US NPIAP Resources—pressure ulcer resources from the US National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP; formerly, NPUAP) for health care professionals

Comment below to describe your experience with these tools or share any others you have found useful!