Developing a decision support tool to prevent community-acquired pressure injuries in spinal cord injury in ambulatory care: A nurse-led protocol for mix methods research.

BACKGROUND

There is a lack of formal guidelines and decision support tools to prevent community-acquired pressure injuries (CAPrIs) in Veterans with spinal cord injury (SCI).

PURPOSE: In this article we present our research protocol that describes our plans to create and test a decision support tool to prevent CAPrIs in SCI.

METHODS

In Aim 1, we identified mental-models of CAPrI prevention from the perspectives of Veterans (using photovoice, guided tours), and Veterans Health Administration SCI providers (using interviews), and triangulation to compare the two mental-models. This led to a decision support tool developed and validated using Delphi approaches in Aim 2 and will be followed by tool automation and system redesign for pilot implementation in Aim 3.

FINDINGS: The nurse-led research protocol provides a map to systematically explore, address and translate research into evidence-based practice.

DISCUSSION: Refinement of the protocol will guide future research and implementation.