How to Prevent Bed Sore From Pressure Points - Sheepskin Medical Pads

Do you have sores from being bedridden? Sheepskin pads have been used widely to reduce bed sores.

Sheepskin pads were designed to reduce pressure at the point of body contact. The patient will be more comfortable with a sheepskin bed pad, feel more support, sleep better and therefore not feel as tired when they wake up.

PRESSURE SORES

Sheepskin pads reduce pressure sores by distributing pressure evenly and smoothly allowing for maximum circulation.The pads absorb moisture when you are sweating and/or have hot flashes. The perspiration is drawn away from the body and into the fibers. On cold night it keeps the chill off your back and gives you that soft comfy warm feeling.

Our Medical Sheepskin offers the finest medical grade of sheepskin face pads, pelts, bed pads, wraps and crutch covers for use in medical offices, chiropractic practices, nursing home, hospitals and especially in your own home.

The Medical sheepskin products are made from 100% real sheepskin. Try our products if you are suffering from bed sores, aches or pain. Sheepskin pads are one of the most effective ways to reduce sores on the pressure points. I would suggest the sheepskin wrap, pads and/or pillow products. Our sheepskin bed pads are HYPOALLERGENIC, naturally flame-retardant and resilient. It is washable and easy to care for.

Sheepskin pads are the products you need, to help your loved one, the patient you are caring for or for yourself in taking care of those bed sores, sweaty nights or chilly bed.

How to Prevent Bed Sore From Pressure Points - Sheepskin Medical Pads

PRESSURE SORES

Concordance - Compliance - or Adherence with Medical Advice

There can be a big difference between a patient's commitment to the plan while still in the Doctor's office, their immediate decisions on leaving about adherence and the full follow through to complete the course over days, weeks, or months. We can opt out at any of these stages. The poor uptake of medical advice remains a major challenge to the medical profession, but it could be argued that within many patient's health understanding there lurks a healthy scepticism related to medical advice, and that if doctors really do wish to influence their patients to do what they think is good for them, they had better be jolly certain that they are right.

We are more likely to adhere to treatment if we understand and believe the explanation. Some of us will adhere because it is a doctor who has told us to; most of us will adhere if our own understanding seems to match that of the doctor and our agenda is shared, this is what is meant by concordance. A shared understanding between patient and doctor should be the gold standard of all patient doctor encounters.

PRESSURE SORES STAGES

A whole issue of the British Medical Journal was devoted to this topic, entitled from compliance to concordance, 1.10.2003.

There is a fascinating area that doctors know very little about -what lessons do we patients learn from whether we follow our advice or not?

99% of us act rationally in terms of our own health beliefs which sadly may not themselves be rational.

For example, Patient A goes to the doctor wanting penicillin for her sore throat. She gets it, gets better and has her health belief confirmed- that penicillin cures sore throats.

Patient B, does exactly the same but does not get better- what lessons has he learned? That penicillin does not cure sore throats? That it was not a 'strong' enough antibiotic and that the doctor was ineffective in choosing the right one? e.g. 'I've always had the green ones before, these red ones are useless.'

That the doctor was right all the time and it was a virus that did not respond to penicillin or that there may be something very serious that the doctor missed? That this doctor is no good and that he will try another one next time? Etc. There is another possibility with patient B -that of partial compliance. He might be one of the 1/3rd that takes a few pills here and there but not enough to get adequate blood levels (but he may still think he has followed instructions).

What about patient C? He only came for a sick note but was given tablets he did not want and did not take and he still got better.
'I don't know what they teach doctors at medical school, always giving pills for no good reason.'

Or patient D, she was given penicillin but did not take it because it had given her thrush last time, but now she feels both unwell and guilty. If she goes back to the doctor she might well lie about taking the tablets. These are just some examples of the sort of messages that we patients learn from whether we do or do not take medical advice. How many of these sorts of messages are doctors aware of? Precious few I fear.

A major problem with communication between doctor and patient are the different frames of reference. Doctors are taught scientifically; they learn thousands of new words and have models of disease imprinted in their brains. We patients are not like this. Both doctors and patients have reasons for believing and doing what they do, the trouble is these reasons are different.

Take hypertension, a doctor's disease if ever there was one: until the advent of cheap electronic machines only professionals could diagnose this condition. Doctors insist to their patients that high blood pressure produces no symptoms and can only be effectively treated by regular medication and frequent monitoring. This is the concept of the asymptomatic risk factor. Most of us can not understand this and use more obvious folk explanations to help us cope with what we perceive as an illness. The result is the adherence nightmare already alluded to.

Most of us think hyper-tension is a description, and take our medication depending on how we feel. If we are feeling headachy, a bit tense and edgy then to us it is obvious that we are hyper--tensive and need to take our tablets, but on those days we are feeling serene and relaxed then it is obviously not necessary to take the tablets. All quite logical but using a non medical frame of reference.
Whether or not we adhere to the treatment leads to the final outcome in our learning circle. As Stimpson and Webb (1975) pointed out:
"The crucial paradox ...is that in the consultation the doctor makes the treatment decisions; after the consultation, decision making lies with the patient".

Concordance - Compliance - or Adherence with Medical Advice

PRESSURE SORES STAGES

Pressure Ulcer Nurse Explains How the Medical Record May Reveal Lapses in Skin Assessments - Or Not!

A few months back, I received another set of medical records to review and analyze for a great attorney-client of mine. It was a case about a stage IV pressure ulcer (also known as decubitus ulcers) that a patient had developed during a hospital stay.

Sounds familiar doesn't it? They all do.

PRESSURE SORES STAGES

But there was something very different about this case.

As a nurse, I have reviewed thousands and thousands of medical records; and when I started my review of this large stack of medical records, I noticed that there were great photos in there!

Now, I don't mean great photos as when you go to an amusement park, because these were photos of a stage IV pressure ulcer (the worst type of pressure ulcer you can develop!). I mean these were great photos because they painted the story of what really happened.

Most healthcare facilities; depending on their protocols, have now resorted to using photography as another way to document pressure ulcers. Photographing pressure ulcers in different stages, can be very helpful and beneficial to the healthcare providers because the may be able to determine if the pressure ulcer is healing, getting worse, or if it has remained unchanged.

But there are also disadvantages when photographing pressure ulcers.

The healthcare provider needs to remain consistent and continue to photograph the wound per protocol. An occasional photograph of the wound usually has no benefit.

Photographs of pressure ulcer that are taken too closely or from a distance may be difficult to use to assess the site. Photographs that are not timed and dated can de difficult to match up with the written portion of the documentation that describes the wound. Also, the location of the pressure ulcer must be documented on the photo; especially if the patient has wounds in different part of the body.

So, what was the real story that these great photographs revealed? The photos in the medical record I was reviewing and analyzing became the "unwritten" timeline that perfectly showed us in full-color how this pressure ulcer came about. Needless to say, my attorney's client was very pleased at the final outcome of this case! Great pressure ulcer documentation through photography can be beneficial to either the plaintiff or the defense.

Pressure Ulcer Nurse Explains How the Medical Record May Reveal Lapses in Skin Assessments - Or Not!

PRESSURE SORES STAGES

Medical Negligence Claims Concerning Elderly Care

Some of the most common and difficult complaints that are seen in potential clinical negligence cases are the perceived lack of cleanliness, the lack of communication between staff and the patient and family members and the lack of apologies when things go wrong. Whilst these issues are of significant importance to the individuals involved, they may not necessarily be sufficient to enable that person to pursue a successful clinical negligence claim.

In order to pursue a successful claim a client has to be able to show not only substandard care (which will usually have to be backed by independent medical opinion), but also that this substandard care caused additional injury over and above that which the patient may have experienced.

PRESSURE SORES STAGES

However, there are some areas of nursing care and general communication and management issues that do come up time and again as being substantive contributors of causing unnecessary injuries to patients. Unfortunately these often arise in the area of care of the elderly.

The issue of whether or not 'cot sides' are appropriate is now a much mooted subject. In our experience, and with the backing of medical opinion, any patient who has problems with truncal (upper body) control should have bedsides in situ. This is because they are unable to stop themselves from falling out of bed and are also unable to protect themselves should that occur. The other side of the argument is that bedsides inhibit a conscious person from exiting the bed and could potentially lead to someone falling from a greater height than would have been the case had bedsides not been in place. Legally, cases have been won on the basis of both arguments.

Elderly patients, like anybody else, are entitled to full dignity. This can cause difficulties when questions arise concerning the patient's ability to mobilise on their own and the patient's entitlement to personal dignity on issues of personal hygiene and feeding. Autonomy of the individual is very important in the area of British medical and ethical law. No adult individual can be required to undergo any treatment or be subject to supervision unless they are the subject of a Mental Health Act [1995] Section Order, or are deemed to be unable to make competent decisions under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, in which case the clinical decision of medical professionals may prevail. This means that any competent patient is entitled to insist on privacy even in risky situations and to refuse to take recommended medication, which can complicate any complaint that family members wish to raise, should the patient suffer injury as a result.

The key issue is a full and appropriate assessment being taken of each individual patient. The patient's abilities and difficulties should be properly taken into account, and documented with a properly reasoned 'Falls Risk Assessment' by the nursing staff who are responsible for the day-to-day care of any inpatient. Any concern about the patient's mental capacity should be fully documented by both doctors and nursing staff alike. The recommendations of any such properly performed Falls Risk Assessment and Neurological Assessment must be carried through and revised if the condition of the patient changes.

The other main issue of complaint that we common in medical negligence claims is that of pressure sores, which can in some very unfortunate and sad circumstances, lead to the death of the individual concerned. Most agree that severe pressure sores are inexcusable in a hospital or nursing home environment. Some degree of pressure sores are not avoidable in, for example an immobile, elderly, diabetic patient. However, these should in a medical environment, be identified at a very early stage and be treated appropriately, so that they do not become life-threatening.

Overall, the care and treatment of an individual patient remains the responsibility of the Consultant consigned to their care. However, the treatment that any patient receives from nursing and auxiliary staff is of great importance and must follow appropriate hospital guidelines. Staff shortages may explain difficulties but at the end of the day every patient treated within an NHS or nursing establishment is entitled through the NHS Constitution 2009 and the Care Quality Commission to what is deemed by independent experts to be an acceptable standard of care.

Medical Negligence Claims Concerning Elderly Care

PRESSURE SORES STAGES