Capstone Evidence-Based Practice- Basic Care and Comfort Perform Skin Assessment and/or Implement Measures to Maintain Skin Integrity and Prevent Skin Breakdown Introduction

In line with the primary objective of basic care and comfort, the relationship between the category from the NCLEX-RN examination blueprint, skin assessment, and implementation of measures to maintain skin integrity and professional practice is emphasized. Skin assessment and implementation of measures to ensure skin integrity is especially critical in achieving one of the significant objectives of healthcare: preservation of the patient’s physiological integrity is ensured during care provision. Skin assessment is an essential aspect of ensuring basic care and comfort since vulnerable patients may have impaired skin integrity and develop complications if proper guidelines are not met within the aspect of the NCLEX-RN blueprint.

NCLEX-RN blueprint Review

NCLEX-RN is a trademark of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. A nurse’s scope of practice is to implement strategies aligned with the NCLEX-R examination blueprint while assessing skin integrity. One of the primary goals of the NCLEX-RN curriculum is the preservation of the patient’s physiological integrity. Nurses must oversee patient care management and ensure that all healthcare resources improve patients’ health. NCLEX-RN’s objective of basic care and comfort examines related concepts of care provision, such as procedures to be implemented during patient care. In the context of the problem statement, the object is skin assessment and implementation of measures to maintain skin integrity.

The NCLEX-RN blueprint can be used by academic stakeholders when educating their patients. As part of their nursing practice, nurses are trained to assess and maintain skin integrity and consider internal and external factors that may affect skin integrity. Communication is important when implementing strategies to maintain skin integrity. Communication enhances the patient experience, promotes patient-centered care, reduces stress, and enhances professional standing (Howick et al., 2018).

Importance of NCLEX-RN

The NCLEX-RN examination blueprint related to maintaining physiological integrity and skin assessment can be applied when integrating nursing education programs inwards. These categories can help nurses develop holistic, team-based care. This will promote positive communication and cordial, professional relations. While developing strategies to maintain skin integrity, the nursing profession will be positively impacted since nurses will expand their knowledge and skills to enhance patient care. Nurses will also have job satisfaction and reduced stress since they will positively impact patient care.

Shear, friction, and pressure from immobility put an individual at an increased risk for impaired skin integrity (Murphree, 2017). Other people at risk of altered skin integrity include paralyzed, overweight, individuals with spinal cord injuries, those who use wheelchairs, bedridden individuals, and those with edema (Murphree, 2017). Other factors may hasten skin breakdown, including normal loss of elasticity, age, environmental moisture, and vascular insufficiency (Murphree, 2017).

Nurses should have the knowledge and skills to deal with patients at risk of impairment of skin integrity. Nurses should regularly conduct skin assessments and not confine them to admission only. Skin assessments should be conducted regularly to check for any changes in skin integrity (Lawton & Turner, 2020). Failure to continuously conduct skin assessments will mean that nurses have neglected one of their essential duties. This can result in skin impairment, which can be interpreted as professional neglect and misconduct whereby the nurse who does not conduct skin assessments can lose their license, face litigation, or lose their job. Impairment in skin integrity negatively affects the patient’s health. It can result in increased infection, decreased mobility, decreased function, limb loss through amputation, or death (Murphree, 2017). It can also result in increased hospitalization and reduced quality of life.

Healthcare Disparities, Inequalities, and Interventions

The changes in the skin as an individual ages put one at risk of infectious diseases, tissue destruction, and other diseases. These changes during old age increase the risk of extrinsic factors causing tissue destruction. A reduced barrier function enhances the risk of entry of pathogens. Older patients also have dry skin due to decreased sebum secretion (Murphree, 2017). Other populations at risk of impaired skin integrity include overweight individuals undergoing radiation, those who are bedridden, those using wheelchairs, and those who are diabetic and paralyzed (Murphree, 2017).

There are many healthcare resources that nurses can use to implement evidence-based practices to ma