One time the charge nurse asked me to turn this patient who was comatose and could not close his eyes.
He had no curtain and the sun was glaring in. I told her, "I did not turn him because the sun is in his eyes...."
She agreed with me.
Later on in another nursing home, I found a stroke patient who could not move and who was postitioned with
the sun burning her eyes out. One charge nurse had already asked us not to leave her like this and no one could remember.
Everyone who does patient care should try facing into the sun with your eyes shut when it's glaring in the window and see how many seconds you can stay there. This is memorable and instensely painful.
The last time I found a patient stuck this way I wrote a note to the DoN and alerted everyone to it.
I said I would call DHS if I found her this way again. From then on, they always turned her back to the sun.
Even with the curtain shut, it still can hurt their eyes.
Specializes in Care Coordination, MDS, med-surg, Peds.
I am having a hard time thinking of a facility with bedroom windows with no curtains. Curtains HAVE to be closed for privacy when staff is providing care in case someone on the outside could see in. So cose the curtains! If, for some unknown reason, the curtains can't be closed, shouldn't there be a sunshade type screen/film placed on the window to keep sun out?
I agree with the washcloths on the eyes as a possible solution, as well as repositioning the bed out of the sunlight, too.
Why not get a sleep mask? Or fold a washcloth and place it over the pt's eyes? We still need to turn the patients!
These can only work in some cases if the heat from the sun is not getting them soaked in perspiration and they are not getting burned, which is part of the problem.
These patients really just need to be kept away from windows where the sun glares in. The ones who can move, talk and press the signal lights are the ones who should be next to these windows.
The patient still needs to be turned. Turning from back to side away from the window is okay, but they still need more rotation. Why not place a wash cloth dry or moist over the patients eyes to protect them. I honestly don't see why this patient can't be turned to look out the window.
If the eyes are kept moist and healthy through eye drops and frequent eye care it shouldn't be that huge of an issue. I hang outside in the sun all the time without special eye protection. I maybe able to blink my eyes to keep them moistened, but there are other options.
Threatening to call DHS for this is a bit over the top. What this patient needs is a good careplan that addresses a good turning schedule with eye protection.
Leaving a comatose patient with the sun glaring into their face is an act of cruelty. It is more painful than bedsores. Eye drops and eye covers are not always enough.
The good careplan and turning schedule are something that the whole nursing staff has to agree on.
I found it hard to get them to listen, even when the patient's skin was burned and she could not even move to cover up her eyes.
Some of these patients I see left staring into the sun had indifferent nurses who I could not get through to
until I threatened to call the state. This was what it took to get her on a turning schedule.
I saw two seperate patients in home care who were left this way by PUSHY, AGGRESSIVE, family members.
They said, "The sun is not, "burning her eyes out," she can just close her eyes," or, "You can't bow to her every whim."
In one case, I got my patient to sit on the other side of the room after the relatives (who were at work) demanded that I keep the blinds open while they were gone. This drove both me and my patient insane when we were there alone.
lubricate the eyes throughout the day and physically close the eyes and cover with the above suggestions( mask,tapeshut) but I would think that a bedsore on a comatose pt. that can only be turned on one side or back is a greater risk. Running to report the incident and not solve the over all problem is child-like.
The sun is still at risk for buring them.
I'm wondering if tape is not too thin.
I agree with other posters about getting them on a turning schedule if they can't be moved away from the window.
My point here is not about having excuses not to turn the patients or that they don't need good eye care but that they should never be facing into the sun.
It's like I said to one of my co-workers one day, "This is not a prison camp. The sun is burning her eyes out." Luckily, she was good natured and did not take this as an attack on her.
My real question is about how to make people see that they should not be left this way so that when I leave my work shilft, I don't need to worry about them.
Perhaps all LTC facilities could in the future be built underground.
But if we're not just worried about their eyes, if we can't have their skin in the sun either, then by not turning them, their back is facing the sun, which has just as much skin as their front being exposed to the sun.
Some patients like the sun on their backs and usually have clothes covering them.
Logical deduction! That is what is called "critical thinking" , a nurse/CNA or the dog catcher can surmise this solution. The original contributor to this post is lacking simple common sense.
How do I get people all over the whole planet not to leave helpless individuals facing into the sun?
I can count, one, two, three, four patients who were left with the sun in their eyes by thoughtless caregivers.
That is four too many. For those four I've seen, how many other THOUSANDS of them are there?
How can I alert a nursing staff 12 hours down the road to get their patient away from that window where the sun glares in?
How do I get my co-workers to agree to a turning schedule and know they will stick to it when I am not there?
How do I explain to them why I need to turn a patient upside down in bed and get them to accept this new and strange way of thinking without arousing their hostility?
They can't even move to cover up their eyes and they can't talk.
Do you suppose they might have a headache?? Might they feel like they are in hell?
How can I protect them when I am not there?
Maybe I can get, "the dog catcher," to help me with this.
silverbat
617 Posts
I am having a hard time thinking of a facility with bedroom windows with no curtains. Curtains HAVE to be closed for privacy when staff is providing care in case someone on the outside could see in. So cose the curtains! If, for some unknown reason, the curtains can't be closed, shouldn't there be a sunshade type screen/film placed on the window to keep sun out?
I agree with the washcloths on the eyes as a possible solution, as well as repositioning the bed out of the sunlight, too.