A escala de Waterlow aplicada em pessoas com les？o medular

objectives: assessing risk factors for pressure ulcers in people hospitalized with spinal cord injury, using the waterlow scale and instructions given to patients before and after onset of ulcers method: cross-sectional study with 60 patients, conducted in a hospital in the city of fortaleza (ceará, brazil). data was collected from may to october 2008 through the use of the waterlow scale. the kolmogorov-smirnov test, the pearson correlation coefficient and spearman correlation coefficient were used for analysis. results: the most significant risk factor for the development of pressure ulcers was affected physical mobility associated with a long hospitalization. the presence of a companion was considered important, because the 19 patients who did not develop pressure ulcers had companions. it also was found that 90% of patients did not receive any guidance before the onset of pressure ulcers, and only 31% received instructions after their appearance. conclusions: the most significant variable in the risk of developing pressure ulcers was affected physical mobility, given that patients were limited to wheelchairs or lay motionless in bed. most did not receive guidance before the onset pressure ulcers; only some of them were advised. thus, the study proved to be effective in the evaluation of risk factors and also to gather information on nursing guidance received by patients.