[1] The purpose of the scale is to help health professionals, especially nurses, assess a patient's risk of developing a pressure ulcer.
[2] The Braden Scale assesses a patient's risk of developing a pressure ulcer by examining six criteria:[3] This parameter measures a patient's ability to detect and respond to discomfort or pain that is related to pressure on parts of their body.
Eating only portions of meals or having imbalanced nutrition can indicate a high risk in this category.
Friction and shear looks at the amount of assistance a client needs to move and the degree of sliding on beds or chairs that they experience.
This combines for a possible total of 23 points, with a higher score meaning a lower risk of developing a pressure ulcer and vice versa.