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Typically, when we think of skin injury prevention in the acute care setting, we think of that immobile, post trauma, geriatric or surgical patient.  There is a plethora of literature and research around the subject yet each year, more than 2.5 million people in the United States develop pressure injuries.  That 2.5 million people represent many different populations from geriatric to neonate. Risk identification and the implementation of pressure injury prevention interventions are well known in the adult population but what about the neonate? When it comes to pressure injuries, we rarely think of the neonatal population.

The pediatric surgical patient, like any other surgical patient can be vulnerable to pressure ulcers (PU).  Reducing pressure injury development in the pediatric surgical patient can be challenging especially when there is an admitting diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD) paired with open-heart surgery (Galvin and Curley 2012). 

The AORN Global Surgical Conference & Expo will be held April 6-10, 2019 in Nashville, TN. This year's focus is Harmonized Care as the Key to Safety. It is the largest Gathering of Perioperative Professionals in the World with over 5,600 executives, directors, managers, staff nurses, and other perioperative professionals from around the world.

“Little is known about pressure ulcer prevention practice among pediatric patients,” Razmus and Bergquist-Beriger lamented just two years ago in Wound Management & Prevention. For one thing, the authors explained, risk factors for pressure ulcers are different for infants and children relative to adults. Instruments that have been used to identify pediatric risks include: