Pressure Ulcers affect an estimated two million Americans each year, often because of a combination of dehydration, immobility, nutrition, and incontinence. With a rapidly aging population facilities cannot just rely on medical staff to minimize the onset of pressure wounds.
New research suggests that it takes a team approach in any facility to keep the instances of bedsores under control. From the design and maintenance staff to the staff in the kitchen, every position can do their part.
Here are a few examples of departments doing their part in identifying and suggesting easy and low cost solutions to fight pressure ulcers:
- Kitchen staff has started to serve buffet meals to encourage residents to be more active and reduce the amount of time sitting in one position
- Housekeeping staff has noticed ill-fitting clothes that increase pressure on the skin when sitting or lying down
- Beauty shop staff has recognized the need to quicken the pace of an appointment so the resident is not sitting in one position for a long period of time
By creating a culture where all staff is educated on common illnesses and are encouraged to find low-cost, and easy solutions is invaluable in the care of resident. The most important factor in the team is constant communication between the nursing staff regarding the status of each patient.
The implementation of WoundRounds as a part of the team approach makes clinician’s jobs easier to provide a simple way to identify skin and wound risk factors by:
- Providing proactive reports that utilize your data to inform the care deliver process
- Making data collection easy while prompting best practice solutions
- Assures wound care documentation is complete and accurate
