Against All Odds Article

Against All Odds: Preventing Pressure Ulcers in High-Risk Cardiac Surgery Patients There are three authors of the article reviewed who represent several degrees, including one master's degree, and certifications. The authors are (Cooper, Jones, & Currie, 2015): Danielle Nicole Cooper, RN, BSN, CCRN-CSC Sarah Layton Jones, RN, BSN, CCRN Linda Ann Currie, RN, MSN, ACNS-BC, CCRN-CSC The Authors have credentials that include Adult Health Nurse Specialist-Board Certified (ACNS-BC) and Critical Care Nurse -- Cardiac Surgery Certificate (CCRN-CSC) certificates.

The article is peer reviewed and appears in the Critical Care Nurse journal and was published in October, 2015. The article sites twenty-two different sources, most of which were published within the last five years. The title of the article includes the phrase "Against All Odds," which honestly seems a bit dramatic. The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center (VCUMC) nursing staff implemented preventative measures to decrease rates of all hospital-acquired pressure ulcers, with a goal of 0 preventable pressure ulcers (Cooper, Jones, & Currie, 2015).

Although this implementation may seem difficult, it doesn't seem to be against "all" odds. The purpose of the research study was to analyze the results of the nursing staff implementation of preventative measures to decrease rates of all hospital-acquired pressure ulcers, with a goal of 0 preventable pressure ulcers (Cooper, Jones, & Currie, 2015). This implementation was based off of hospital data which showed room for opportunity and best practices were applied in the implementation including the use of prophylactic sacral dressing that have shown to be effective in preventing pressure ulcers.

Although the research question isn't clearly stated, the study was initiated to analyze and discuss the results of the implementation. The introduction is also fairly vague and makes no mention of the study's findings or methods like a typical journal article would. Findings The data analysis did find a significant decrease in the number of pressure ulcers among patients consistent with the timing of the implementation that suggest that the implementation was largely effective.

Although the initiative did not meet its goal of preventing all pressure ulcers, it did make significant progress along these lines. One notable findings is that the number of pressure ulcers attributed to medical device related equipment dropped dramatically. Figure 1 - Survey Findings Summary (Cooper, Jones, & Currie, 2015) Discussion The conclusion of the study is certainly plausible and I personally feel that this makes a significant contribution to nursing in two primary ways.

First of all, in a general sense, it illustrates how applying evidence-based best practices to a nursing problem can help to alleviate issues that are identified in a typical.