faq
Why was the Institute for Pressure Injury Prevention founded?

The Institute for Pressure Injury Prevention was founded by current and former heads of the NPUAP and EPUAP with the goal of aligning evidence based practice and pressure injury prevention theory with reality. IPIP focuses on creating and deploying customized strategies to achieve concrete, practical solutions and ultimately decrease the incidence of pressure injuries throughout facilities worldwide.

What differentiates IPIP from other organizations that help facilities minimize the occurrence of pressure injuries?

The Institute for Pressure Injury Prevention is dedicated to discovering the root cause of pressure injury causes. Thankfully, there are already many established organizations delivering excellent training and continuing education to minimize PI incidences. While those ingredients are often a critical part of the IPIP plan, they are almost never the full picture or the final step. IPIP’s team specializes in helping facilities uncover the “why” when proactive training and education do not succeed in eradicating pressure injuries – and using these insights to develop practical solutions that work for each individualized facility, as well as their staff and patients.

What is IPIP’s process?

The Institute for Pressure Injury Prevention’s unique approach prioritizes collaboration with each facility. Working in parallel with both formal and lay leadership, a customized plan is devised and deployed within each facility. The process is as follows:

Measure the Baseline: in order to formulate a plan and evaluate effectiveness and improvement, there needs to be a clear understanding of current metrics. IPIP performs baseline measurements and analysis of pressure injury incidence rates and types, as well as facility structure and processes.

Create the Plan: based on the results of the baseline, IPIP collaborates with each facility to establish goals and a conceptual outline of a realistic process for achieving those goals.

Implement the Plan: the tools inherent to the new process – including education, technology, communication, schedule or priority changes – are introduced to and implemented among the facility staff.

Fine-tune the Process: after a pre-established timeframe, the results are measured and evaluated. For any solution that did not work as expected, IPIP investigates “the why.” Since only what is identified and understood can be repaired, the priority is to probe until answers are determined. With the reasons behind the deficiency in hand, IPIP works together with each facility in adjusting the process to compensate for those issues.

How involved is the facility’s management in the improvement process?

The board of the Institute for Pressure Injury Prevention strongly believes that since each facility’s management and staff is most familiar with the embedded culture, processes and procedures of that facility, that unique knowledge positions them as experts. Building upon that established knowledge base, IPIP partners with facility management to guide its clinical staff through the process of implementing a new strategy.

If a facility’s staff has already received thorough training, and follows best practices to prevent pressure injuries, is there anything IPIP can add?

When a facility’s staff is entirely competent, receives regular training and follows best practices, it’s already a step ahead. However, even given strict adherence to evidence based practice, there may be residual pressure injuries that surface due to nonadherent patients or unusual medical conditions. The Institute for Pressure Injury Prevention helps facilities develop an effective approach to dealing with all cases.

In addition, the IPIP founders are leading experts in both the research and clinical communities, and are actively involved in pressure injury and wound care research. Working with IPIP brings cutting-edge scientific knowledge to each facility – significantly before it trickles down to standard education and training programs.

If a facility already invested in specialized pressure injury prevention mattresses, is IPIP going to recommend procuring additional or different equipment?

It’s unlikely. While technology is an important ingredient in any pressure injury prevention program, results will vary based on the processes surrounding use and allocation of the technology. Especially if there’s been a recent investment in top-of-the-line technology, there’s little chance that IPIP will recommend replacing it. However, it is indeed likely that IPIP’s recommendations will help the facility utilize its existing technology more effectively and produce better results in pressure injury prevention.

Does IPIP have solutions to dealing with noncompliant or nonadherent patients?

Noncompliance is one of the areas in which the Institute for Pressure Injury Prevention’s methodology helps facilities break new ground in preventing pressure injuries. In a nutshell, IPIP’s approach is to discover the “why” behind the noncompliance. When facilities uncover the reason behind the noncompliance – and there is almost always a reason, rational or not – then they are able to formulate effective ways of counteracting the problem and winning compliance.