Stave Off These 2 Common Causes Of Skin Breakdown

Don’t let the road to good intentions end up paved with F314 tags.

A toileting and hygiene program can help stop pressure ulcers in their tracks – or put them on the fast track for happening.

Example: Toileting residents or giving them a bedpan based on their own elimination schedule helps promote continence. But residents at very high risk for skin breakdown who sit on the toilet or bedpan for even short intervals can develop a pressure ulcer.

Another example: People with multiple sclerosis who have decreased sensation can sit on a bedpan or commode for long periods without experiencing discomfort, warn the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s nursing home guidelines for care of people with MS. Thus, the person may forget she is sitting on a bedpan.

Solutions: Don’t rely on patients with decreased sensation below the waist to turn on the call light to ask nursing staff to help them get off the commode or bedpan. Note the time when they get on the bedpan or commode and check on them frequently, the guidelines advise.

CNAs can also use a buddy system where they remind each other to get a resident off the pot in time to prevent tissue ischemia.

Standardize Pericare

Staff who become overzealous with their cleaning protocol and scrub the resident’s skin to remove feces can actually cause skin breakdown, cautions Thimsen. That’s where the right perineal cleaners come into the skin care picture. These cleaners are made with a surfactant ingredient that allows the staff to remove feces more easily. 

For the complete article go to http://medicalnewswire.com/artman/publish/ltcare.shtml#6343.