Recently, as a New Jersey and Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyers, we have been writing nursing home abuse posts including tips to help a patient prevent bedsores and pressure ulcers while in a long term care facility. As stated in all of our previous bedsore and pressure ulcer postings, prevention is always the best medicine when it comes to preventing bedsores and pressure ulcers.
Tip #5 for Preventing Bedsores and Pressure Ulcers
The fifth tip nursing home abuse lawyers offer in preventing bedsores is to establish a bowel or bladder program for any nursing home patient who may have incontinence. Many patients are incontinent or have other bowel or bladder issues. When a patient is admitted into the nursing home, the staff should assess whether or not the patient has a bowel or bladder problem and design a plan to minimize any potential risk this may pose in developing a pressure ulcer or bedsore. These residents should be on a regular toileting schedule to ensure that those needs are being met on a regular basis.
In addition, nursing home staff should always anticipate and expect that a nursing home patients’ incontinence may be not be controllable by that patient. As such, in order to minimize that patients’ risk of developing a bedsore, it is important for the staff to clean the skin as soon as it is soiled and use a topical barrier to protect the skin consistent with the tips provided earlier.
Finally, it is important that the nursing home staff provide underpads or absorbent briefs that provide a quick drying surface to the skin. These measures have been proven to prevent bedsores and pressure ulcers in patients. While some residents may object to wearing underpads or briefs (i.e., an adult diaper), a staff member should speak with the patient’s family to ensure that their loved one understands that these measures are safe, effective, and proven to protect them from a serious and perhaps life threatening bedsore or pressure ulcer.
Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If your loved one has suffered from severe bedsores or pressure ulcers in a nursing home or long-term care facility, you will need to contact nursing home abuse lawyers: contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
Let the team at the Mininno Law Office earn you the compensation you need and deserve.