The Role of Family Caregivers in Pressure Injury Prevention Guidelines: A Scoping Review

Considering the importance of family caregivers in injury prevention, it is necessary to clearly define their role in injury guidelines. We reviewed the contents of injury guidelines with the aim of defining the role of family caregivers. PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Proquest were searched, as well as the internet, as some injury guidelines may not be published in professional journals. Literature published between 2000 and 2020 was searched using the keywords pressure pressure ulcer, bed sore, and prevention guideline. Ten guidelines related to injury were found. Of these, five guidelines mentioned the role of family caregivers in relation to injury, referring only to the training and empowerment of family caregivers. Of the five guidelines that mentioned caregiver training, only three determined the training content in detail. According to these guidelines, family caregivers should be trained on the risk factors of injuries, characteristics of injuries, intervention to prevent injuries, nutrition, sign and symptoms of injuries, complication such as infection and using protective equipment and devices. In the guidelines that focused on family caregivers, the attention is sometimes limited and vague. Limited attention to the role of family caregivers can lead to lack of awareness and reduced ability of family caregivers to prevent injury and ultimately increase the patient's risk of developing injury.