The Abruzzese scale, based on the Norton and Gosnell scales, is designed to assess the risk of pressure sore development in acute and long-term care settings (Abruzzese 1985). Domains include: general health, mental status, activity, mobility, continence, nutrition, and predisposing disease.

Number of items: 9

Procedure/Administration: Raters indicate the client status based on personal observation or chart review. The items are scored on a 4-point scale, either 0 – 3, or 0,1,4,6 depending on the item, with higher scores indicating increased risk of developing a pressure ulcer. Scores are summed to produce an overall score between 0 (best prognosis) and 30 (worst prognosis).

How scored: N/a

Interpretability: A cutoff score ≥12 is suggested as the cut score to identify individuals at risk for developing pressure ulcers.

Acceptability: The measure is well accepted by persons with disabilities.

Languages: English

Usability: N/a

Time to administer: 5 – 10 minutes

Time to score: N/a

Training required: None

Availability: N/a

Equipment required: N/a

Summary: N/a

Psychometric Summary

Note: TR= Test re-test; IC= Internal Consistency; Inter-O= Inter-observer; Intra-O= Intra-observer; SS= Sensitivity/Specificity.

Red light= A single study involving SCI subjects which has less than adequate findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

Yellow light= A single study involving subjects with SCI which has adequate to excellent findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

Green light= At least 2 studies involving subjects with SCI which have adequate to excellent findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

N/a= No information.

References

• Abruzzese RS. Early assessment and prevention of pressure sores. In: Lee BY (ed). Chronic Ulcers of the Skin. McGraw Hill: New York, 1985, pp 1 -19
• Abruzzese RS. Early assessment and prevention of pressure sores. In: Lee BY (ed). Chronic Ulcers of the Skin. McGraw Hill: New York, 1985, pp 1 -19