As nursing home abuse attorneys, we realize that prevention is the best medicine. In continuation of our series of nursing home abuse tips to help prevent bedsores and pressure ulcers, we leave the important areas of nutrition and hydration. In this next tip, we address the most important area to help a patient prevent bedsores and pressure ulcers from occurring or worsening.
Tip # 9 for the Prevention of Bedsores and Pressure Ulcers in Nursing Homes
Proper shifting and repositioning is paramount in preventing nursing home patients from acquiring life threatening bedsores and pressure ulcers. According to the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, bed-bound patients should be repositioned at least every two hours, and chair-bound persons repositioned every hour. Repositioning of nursing home patients to prevent bedsores and pressure ulcers from occurring is so vital to proper nursing home care that it has been mandated by federal regulations. All nursing home staff should be trained in the proper techniques of repositioning and turning in order to prevent pressure ulcers and bedsores in nursing home patients. Sadly, many nursing home care workers are low wage, overworked, and undertrained. Therefore, they often lack this basic nursing home training.
Nursing home patients that are able should be taught to shift their positions every 15 minutes if possible, and they should be reminded and checked on by staff to make sure this is being done. Unfortunately, most nursing homes lack the required staff to provide these basic and simple reminders to the nursing home patients. This lack of care is just another form of nursing home abuse.
What Can Families Do to Protect Their Loved Ones From Such Nursing Home Abuse?
A repositioning chart is a simple and great way to keep track of when a nursing home patient has been repositioned or turned. This chart should be made easily available for family review each and every time they visit. The chart should be in the nursing home patient’s room for easy review. Just the simple task of making sure the nursing home patient is moved regularly, and the charting of such movement to make sure that it is being done on a timely basis, can be the difference between a person developing the awful bedsores and pressure ulcers that result from remaining stationary.
Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in NJ nd PA
If your loved one is suffering from bedsores or pressure sores in a nursing home or long term care facility, contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation and free consultation with nursing home expert Donnie Browne. Call (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia. Let the Mininno Law Office team earn you your full and fair compensation.