Many residents inside nursing homes require special care to prevent them from contracting certain skin problems, particularly bedsores. Also known as pressure ulcers, this type of skin condition can lead to serious, and sometimes fatal, health conditions for a nursing home resident. Prevention is the key to reducing pressure ulcers in the nursing home setting, and family members should be insistent on skin assessments being conducted regularly on their loved ones. This is especially true during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as visitation in nursing homes is not an option.
What does a skin assessment mean?
Bedsores range in severity on a scale from one to four, with a stage four bedsore being the most severe and life-threatening. Bedsores can usually be prevented with proper nursing home care. However, even if bedsores do occur, they can generally be successfully treated if discovered in the early stages.
The key to the prevention and detection of bedsores is conducting a skin assessment. Not only are nursing homes required to conduct skin assessments upon an initial admission of a resident, but they should also regularly conduct them, particularly for residents who have a higher risk of contracting pressure ulcers.
In reality, nursing home staff should use every patient encounter to preliminarily evaluate parts of the skin. When a proper skin assessment is conducted, this means that a resident’s entire body will be evaluated. Nursing home staff will conduct a head-to-toe assessment, focusing particularly on skin areas overlying bony prominences. Nursing home staff will be using a checklist and looking for things such as skin color, moisture, skin integrity edema, turgor, and more.
Let our Greenville team help you today
If your loved one has been diagnosed with bedsores in a nursing home, it could be because they did not receive proper or preventative care. At the Dan Pruitt Law Firm, we are here to help if you suspect that nursing home staff has not properly cared for your loved one. Let us investigate your situation and work to secure any compensation you or your loved one are entitled to. You can contact our Greenville nursing home abuse attorney for a free consultation today to find out what your next steps should be.