Nursing scientific production in the area of pressure ulcers in Spain, 1998-2001
Vicente Sánchez Criado, Isabel María López Medina, Pedro Luis Pancorbo Hidalgo.

SUMMARY

Introduction: Pressure ulcers are an important problem for nurses, so they should be a high-priority research area un our profession. The aim of this paper is to describe the state of nursing scientific production in the area of pressure ulcers in Spain.

Method: Quantitative, descriptive and retrospective study over articles published in Spanish nursing journals that were recorded in the bibliographic database CUIDEN under the term “pressure ulcers” in the period 1998-2001.

Results: A total of 63 articles was obtained (15.75 articles per year). The average of authors by paper was of 3.89, 74.6% of the articles were carried out in collaboration. 75.4% of the authors has published only one article about pressure ulcers in this period. The most productive nursing journal was Gerokomos/Helcos, with 41.2% of the articles. Original articles were 66.6% and 23.8% were reviews. The most researched topics have been those related with treatmente and care of pressure ulcers and its prevention, with 44.4% of the articles. The most productive Spanish counties were Madrid (11 articles), Barcelona (10 articles), Cádiz (9 articles) and Jaén (6 articles). Most of the authors (71.7%) work in a hospital.

Discussion: Nursing research in the area of pressure ulcers is in a continuous advance and growth, what contributes to the improvemente of nursing care to patients with these lesions.

KEY WORDS

   Pressure ulcers, nursing research, scientific production, nursing journals, scientific papers, scientific articles

Vol. 15 nº1-2004