When you survive a spinal cord injury your first stop is the hospital setting. Here physicians will maintain your stability before sending you on to rehab. You’ll work with respiratory therapists, neurologists and other specialists to stabilize your condition. You will be doing all of this lying in bed. Because of this many people with spinal cord injuries develop pressure ulcers from lying in bed in acute settings. Hospitals need to take care to prevent pressure sores because they can become dangerous quickly and prohibit rehabilitation.
What is a Pressure Ulcer?
A pressure ulcer, also known as a pressure sore or bed sore, forms when too much pressure is applied to one area of the body for too long. Pressure applied for just a few hours in the wrong place such as bony prominences of the body, can cause ulcers to form. Sometimes a pressure sore is already dangerously deep before it becomes very noticeable. Wounds may tunnel all the way to the bone, require surgery or amputation, and even become fatal.
How Can Pressure Ulcers be Prevented?
In order to avoid pressure sores, the body must be turned regularly if in bed, and repositioned while in a chair. This might simply involve tucking a pillow under a different area of the back every couple hours. Special mattresses and seats that rotate air can also be used to decrease pressure. For patients with paralysis, skin care is vital. Protein helps protect the skin and significantly affects the entire process of wound healing. Consuming sufficient protein after acute injury is essential.
The Benefits of Preventing Pressure Ulcers in Hospitals
Pressure sores increase the risk of potentially life-threatening bacterial infections like cellulitis and septicemia. In some cases people survive spinal cord injuries only to fail to survive pressure sore injuries.
Pressure sores decrease the chances of timely rehabilitation. Depending on the severity of the wound, sitting up in a wheelchair may not be possible during healing. Getting the much needed physical therapy and range of motion exercise the body needs might not be possible either.
Some rehabilitation settings do not even admit patients with pressure ulcers. You might be discharged to a skilled nursing facility instead. Receiving the rehabilitation needed won’t be possible in this setting, and healing the wound may be difficult. In fact these facilities are often where individuals develop pressure wounds. The CDC reports that one in ten nursing home residents will develop pressure injuries.
Avoiding pressure wounds and avoiding nursing homes starts with diligent care in the hospital.
Hospital provision of proper nutrition as well as sufficient staff to reposition the body as needed is key in preventing pressure ulcers from forming in patients with spinal cord injury.
Contact a Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer When You Get a Pressure Ulcer
If you or a loved one develop a pressure ulcer in a hospital setting, you may have to advocate for health care professionals to properly tend to its healing. You will need to see a wound care specialist and have proper dressing applied. Pressure must be avoided by frequent repositioning.
Because the development of pressure ulcers is preventable, it should be inexcusable that such happens to patients under the care of hospital staff. You have the right to sue for medical malpractice if you’ve experienced a pressure ulcer in a hospital or skilled nursing facility. Contact The Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm today.
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