fitted sheets

shel_wny · Jul 5, 2004

No problems with sheets really but our matresses are awful.

They are made of some sort of blue woven vinyl stuff but they soak up any liquid including urine and tend to make the new linens just as soiled as the old.

So frustrating!

Shel

Destinystar · Jul 8, 2004

if the fitted sheets wont work, use unfitted ones and report the problem to the supervisor, write it on the report sheet. if you know that these sheets dont work, dont use them. if you leave your residents on plastic you will be held personally responsible not the facility. you can use a top sheet or even a blanket but dont keep using a fitted sheet if it wont work. have to use common sense here. call the surveyors and make a report. sounds like a way to solve the problem to me

the facility i work in uses fitted sheets that won't stay on the beds. seems like i'm the only one it bothers but i hate to see those folks laying in crumpled up beds half or all the way on plastic mattresses. last nite i made rounds after the cnas and one patient was laying completely on the plastic mattress. i asked them to go back and fix her bed and they did but i shouldn't have had to ask. i wish state would come in and write the facility up for those sheets. any one else have a problem with sheets?

Destinystar · Jul 8, 2004

filthy mattresses are a big source of bad odors in a nursing home. when ever a person urinates or deficates vomits, sweats, spills things it goes right under the seet onto the mattress and lays there. so when the bed gets changed and the mattress does not get disinfected it wreaks even though it looks clean cause the linen gets changed. most of the beds have rips, holes and cracks. in ltc there is supposed to be a maintenance log book. write down, date and time all of the filthy, torn up mattress in there. then it will make the maintenance department responsible to follow up. if they dont report the situation to the administrator. if that doesnt work call the health department. have to think about those poor helpless patients that have to lay in that stinky sewer all day.

no problems with sheets really but our matresses are awful.
they are made of some sort of blue woven vinyl stuff but they soak up any liquid including urine and tend to make the new linens just as soiled as the old.
so frustrating!
shel

DCCCRN2Bn05 · Jul 8, 2004

I'm working my way through nsg. school as a NA at a LTC facility. It's been my experience that the sheets won't stay on the bed there either. Maybe the manufacturer just doesn't take in to consideration that those beds move and fold and as soon as you roll any part up the sheet pops right off. :angryfire That may have been the case w/ your NAs they rolled them up and didn't realize it had come off (and if the problem lies w/ them ignoring a patient that's a whole bigger problem in itself) I do agree that if the sheet will not stay on and the pt. must be rolled up, you can improvise with a reg. sheet and hospital corners.

Dixiedi · Jul 8, 2004

It's been a problem for as long as I can remember. In the past, when working acute care (home care we don't have these hassles) I used two flat sheets (one for the top 2/3 of the bed, extending to about knee level, and one for the bottom 1/3 - lots of sheet for tucking) for the bottom sheet and a bottom sheet as the "pull" sheet.

What are those sheets we fold and put on top of the bottom sheet and under the Chux?

night owl · Jul 9, 2004

I guess we've been lucky because we don't have a problem.

abundantjoy07, RN · Jul 14, 2004

hummm....at the ltc i'm at (working to get my cna) they have the fitted sheets with the elastic all the way around. it's easy to use because the elastic keeps the sheet on the bed and it hugs the mattress well so it doesn't easily come up.

as far as the mattresses go, some of the residents have air mattresses. they look like fun! other residents have plastic mattresses. i don't think they should use any fabric like cotton anymore because that does suck. you can't get anything out of those mattresses. patient comfort is definately important because it means the patients are happy and it means less unnecessary work for everyone else. i would work hard on getting better sheets for your residents...afterall they are in bed nearly all day...it might as well be comfortable.

RN92 · Jul 14, 2004

Iworked in er...they had a great solution..

Use a flatted sheet and tie the top corners in a knot to fit over the top of the matress. This keeps the sheet from sliding down.Also, if the pt is really restless - slap tape over the sheet at the foot of the mattress.