Objective:

To assess the impact of COVID-19 on the implementation of the Risk Assessment and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers Best Practice Guideline (BPG) of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, in quality indicators in the general internal medicine unit of the Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol.

Methodology:

Observational study of 2 retrospective cohorts, comparing the pre- and post-implementation quality indicators of 2017 with those of the year 2021. A pseudonymized data exploitation was conducted for subsequent univariate descriptive analysis, as well as inferential analysis and hypothesis contrasting. Bilateral approaches were used in all cases, with a significance level of 5% (α = 0.05).

Results:

A total of 946 individuals were included, of which 49.9% were men and 50.1% were women. The mean age was 75 years. The incidence of PI was 8.1% in 2017 and 8.9% in 2021, with no statistically significant difference (p = 0.8). Regarding the proportion of hospital-acquired PI, a considerable increase was also observed, being 27.5% in 2017 and 60% in 2021, although no statistically significant differences were found either (p = 0.094). However, regarding the risk of presenting PI and their incidence, statistically significant differences were observed in both years (p < 0.001 in 2017, and p = 0.011 in 2021).

Conclusions:

The pandemic made it necessary to stop the BPG implementation process, impacting negatively on the quality of care indicators.

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