4 Nursing-Home Patients Who May Have a Higher Risk of Bedsores
If you have a loved one living in a nursing home, you want to be sure he or she receives the best possible care. You also want to trust healthcare providers to watch for bedsores, a common injury for those living in long-term care facilities.
Also called pressure sores or pressure ulcers, bedsores are a problem in Mississippi nursing homes. Often, they are an indicator of ongoing nursing-home neglect or abuse. Not all patients, though, have the same propensity for developing bedsores. Here are four types of nursing-home patients who have an increased risk.
1. Patients with mobility issues
Bedsores are most common in nursing-home patients who have difficulty moving. If your loved one must stay in bed or sit in a chair for prolonged periods of time, you should regularly ask nursing-home staff about screening for potential bedsores.
2. Patients with more than one medical concern
Patients who have more than one medical condition or health concern often have a greater likelihood of developing bedsores. While conditions that affect blood circulation, such as diabetes or neuropathy, often accompany bedsores, obesity and malnutrition may also encourage bedsores to form.
3. Patients with memory or communication difficulties
Physicians use a five-stage ranking system to describe the severity of bedsores. Unfortunately, a stage 1 sore can quickly progress into a more severe one. If your loved one has Alzheimer’s or dementia, he or she may not be able to alert the nursing-home staff about a possible bedsore.
4. Patients with incontinence
Many nursing-home patients have some type of incontinence. Wet and soiled parts of the body are often perfect places for bedsores to form. Even worse, bacteria can cause otherwise minor bedsores to become infected.
Your loved one’s bedsores may or may not be due to nursing home abuse. Nonetheless, bedsores can be both serious and deadly. If your loved one falls into any of the above categories, you may need to pay special attention to the care he or she receives at the nursing home.
