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Essay on Validity of Waterlow Scale

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Sydney nursing school

INTRODUCTION:

Pressure ulcers are areas of localised damage to the skin and underlying tissue caused by pressure. (Stechmiller et al., 2008) Pressure ulcers still one of the most significant health problem in our hospitals today, It affects on patients quality of life patient self-image and how long they will stay in hospital then the cost of patient treatment . Moore (2005) estimate that it costs a quarter of a million euro’s per annum to manage pressure ulcers in hospital and community settings across Ireland .which allows one to take immediate actions and prevent the ulcer if possible. To support pressure ulcer risk assessment several standardized pressure ulcer risk assessment scales have been introduced …show more content…

Polit and Hungler (2001) . In (Shukla et al.,2008) study the Waterlow scale was used on 15 patients in two wards. Each patient was assessed daily by two different nurses over a period of seven days. A total of 28 clinical nurses were involved and a total of 210 assessments obtained. Statistical analysis demonstrated weak or a moderate degree of inter-rater reliability. Other authors suggested the water low scale too long and time consuming. Pang and Wong (1998).

Edwards (1995) examined the reliability of the Waterlow Scale he did a cross-sectional observation survey of 40 elderly patients with or without ulcers in a community setting. The results failed to display high levels of reliability and in line with other studies over predicted ulcer development. Literature suggests that there limitation to using this scale with elderly people because the continence, neurological deficit and medication affect on scale result. (Cook et al., 1999) said the Categories where disagreement occurred the most were (skin type), (build/weight for height) and (mobility) again indicating that the score is affected by a lack of adequate definitions in these categories. Furthermore, this study highlights that the elderly population proves difficult to obtain scores at the low end of the range. This indicates a limitation of the scale that perhaps the risk thresholds are too high for elderly people

Other Literatures examined the scale parts and examined if the variation

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