Clinical Study

Pressure Injuries (PI) are an ongoing problem in the healthcare field. While all other hospital-acquired conditions have declined in the past few years, PI are the only hospital-acquired condition to increase in recent years,1 which is in spite of many new products, methods, treatments and studies. Current understanding, based in part on the homeostasis model, is insufficient to change the ongoing incidence rates of PI. Allostasis is an updated concept which replaces homeostasis, and one which addresses the limitations of the older model. Allostasis is the process of maintaining survivability by adapting to fluctuating needs, through the body reallocating interactive but finite resources. We know that the body adapts, but we are not examining the full range of allostatic responses, nor the interplay between those responses. While it is well recognized that the body adjusts to varying input, this idea has not been incorporated into treatment paradigms or methodologies. Allostasis more fully explains the body’s interconnected responses to the varied demands in care situations and the cost to the body of meeting fluctuating demands with finite resources available. The allostasis model will aid in preventing pressure injury by allowing more integration of targeted nursing practices and better intervention tools and approaches in addressing relevant intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors which lead to tissue damage and pressure injuries.