AORN Issues New Guideline on Pressure Injury Prevention

August 8, 2022

In May, the Association of Perioperative Nurses (AORN) published an article that outlined 10 New Practices to Protect Patients from Positioning Injuries. New practice item No. 7 is an update to support surfaces used for high-risk patients, specifically:

7. Update Support Surfaces Used for High-Risk Patients

Patients at high risk for pressure injury should be placed on high-specification reactive or alternating pressure support surfaces before and after surgery. See Recommendation 3.3 in Preventing Pressure Injury guideline.

This new guideline on pressure injury prevention was written to reflect the growing evidence around protecting patients from positioning injuries that warranted a new guideline on the topic.

Previously, information on pressure injury was contained in the positioning guideline. During this review, that information was extracted updated for new evidence and made into its own guideline.

Based on observation, AORN does a 3- to 5-year review of the guidelines, generally. This was a 5-year review of positioning, and a new pressure injury guideline was created simultaneously.

Also in the news, AORN is planning a Guideline Workshop Series in six selected cities.

September 17 in Raleigh, NC

September 24 in Philadelphia, PA

October 8 in Kansas City, MO

October 22 in Los Angeles, CA

November 5 in Atlanta, GA

November 12 in Dallas, TX

Dabir Surfaces Inc. is the proud lunchtime sponsorship for the series.