Prevalencia de úlcera por presión en una institución de salud

introduction: the presence of pressure ulcers is a problem that leads to prolonged hospital stay and a temporary or permanent negative impact on the hospitalized person, so it is important to know its prevalence to undertake actions aimed to identify risk factors that originate them and provide more effective nursing care. objective: describe the prevalence of pressure ulcers in a health institution tertiary care. materials and methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study, during the months of may 2009 and may 2010 in an institution of tertiary health care, located in bucaramanga, colombia. the sample consisted of 430 persons examined for the event. data was analyzed using stata 10 software. results: there was an overall prevalence of 5.27% event, stage iii being the most frequently in both evaluations (47.82%). discussion: although the prevalence of pressure ulcers was than reported by the literature, there are similarities in some of the findings. conclusion: the results show that people with high risk according to braden scale were those who had a higher prevalence of the event and the most advanced stages. salud uis 2011; 43 (3): 249-255