Empire State Association of Assisted Living (ESAAL) is working with the New York State Department of Health (DOH) and other professional and provider organizations across the continuum of care in a coalition to develop a comprehensive quality improvement program addressing pressure ulcers. This program, “Gold STAMP (Success Through Assessment, Management and Prevention) Program to Reduce Pressure Ulcers in New York State,” is a cross-setting, coordinated, evidence-based initiative providing resources, tools, and education to all care settings about this statewide patient safety issue.

The New York State Gold STAMP program is a cross-setting intervention to address that pressure ulcers are an increasingly significant health care problem as evidenced by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) report dated December 3, 2008. The AHRQ report noted that, hospitalizations involving patients with pressure ulcers increased by nearly 80% between 1993 and 2006. Furthermore, the length of stay for hospitalizations principally for pressure ulcers was nearly three times longer than hospitalizations with no diagnosis of pressure ulcers (14.1 days versus 5.0 days). In addition, patients with hospital stays related to pressure ulcers were more likely to be discharged to a long-term care facility as compared to hospitalizations for all other conditions.

Individuals who are most at risk for developing pressure ulcers are those with diabetes, circulatory diseases, diminished mobility, and those with cognitive impairments such as dementia. They include residents in nursing homes, community-based residences such as assisted living and adult care facilities and patients in home care settings, hospitals, and hospice. Each of these settings has an important role to play in both preventing pressure ulcers and effectively treating pressure ulcers when they do occur.

Assisted living providers have an important, proactive, role to play to help prevent and educate residents and families about pressure ulcers through effective communication and collaboration with other providers such as home care. We urge organizations to identify your champion(s) for healthy skin and to engage existing cross-setting partnerships or create new partnerships, internally and externally, to be proactive and collaborative in achieving and sustaining positive skin care outcomes.

The Gold STAMP Program is preparing a number of resources and tools to help all providers across the continuum address the challenges of pressure ulcers. These resources and tools include an organization’s self-assessment of the processes of care for pressure ulcers, a guidance document and tools for the assessment, management, and prevention of pressure ulcers, and education and information on the use of these resources and how to create partnerships to improve communication between settings about pressure ulcers.

ESAAL will soon be sharing new information about the Gold STAMP Program and invites you to participate in the following upcoming events:

• Statewide Tele/Webconference: “Introduction to the Gold STAMP Program To Reduce Pressure Ulcers,” on October 4, 2010 from 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
• Statewide Symposium: Fall – Winter 2010 TBA

Click here to view a fact sheet about the Gold STAMP Program.