Campus Location
Abilene Campus (Residential)
Date of Award
12-2023
Document Type
OTD Capstone
Department
Occupational Therapy
Degree
OTD
Faculty Advisor
Melinda Underwood
Site Mentor
Luke Palmer
Capstone Coordinator
Leslye Molamphy
Specialization
Program Development
Focus
Wound Management & Education
Abstract
Occupational therapists play an important role in wound prevention and management. They provide a unique perspective focused on holistic and client-centered care centered around meaningful occupations. Pressure ulcers are a common occurrence within hospital facilities, creating costly expenses for the facility and poor outcomes for the patients who develop them. More than 2.5 million patients per year will develop a pressure injury, and 60,000 of those patients will die because of their pressure injury. Over 25 billion dollars will be spent by hospital systems for the treatment of pressure injuries. This capstone project aims to develop a personalized quality improvement program for therapy staff at the site to equip them with the necessary skills to improve the quality of care provided and inform them of current evidence-based practices. This project is developed under the Ecology of Human Performance (EHP) model and the Health Belief Model (HBM). Detailed exploration into areas of wound prevention and management takes place as a literature review. Needs assessment interviews are conducted, inventory is tracked, and a staff survey is administered. Based on these results, an educational program is developed, and a pretest/posttest is completed to check for staff improvement. The results of the pretest/posttest indicate a statistically significant increase in pressure ulcer prevention and management after participation in the program. There is a great need for therapists to have a more active role in wound management and prevention. Practitioners have an in-depth understanding of these areas and can provide innovative treatment and education to improve the quality of life for patients. This capstone project demonstrated improved awareness of the role of occupational therapy as a part of the multidisciplinary team.
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