Kennedy terminal ulcers

sunnygirl272 · Mar 12, 2003

that site is probably the only source you will find...all other spots that have info will link back to that site..."Karen Lou Kennedy, RN, CS, FNP" was the discoverer of the Kennedy Terminal Ulcer....it is an interesting thing...saw it once...i think...all our hospice nurses poo-pooed it when i showed the info to them...but they were a group in need of fresh blood at the time, not willing to hear "new" theories...i heard her speak before....i am not surprised she named it for herself....

KlareRN · Mar 12, 2003

I agree with sunnygirl- you probebly will not find it anywhere else. There is alot of skepticism about it in the medical field. It is an ulcer that grows quickly during the dying process...alot of changes happen quickly when the body is shutting down. Don't know why this particular change occuring during the dying process is named after someone...it has been happening for hundreds of years! Karen Kennedy is a nurse practitioner that was "grandfathered" into the nurse practitioner role many years ago before RNs were required to undergo the additional education to be granted the NP title. She lectures very well-probebly what got her where she is today-and I am not surprised she named this after herself (I do not think Dr. Glassley named it-he was just the medical director at Byron-the local "county home" with a reputation of taking the residents nobody else would)....guess we all want our 15 minutes of fame.

What kind of additional information are you looking for? I have her booklet she wrote (she gave it to me- had several to give away)- if you need more specific information- maybe I can find it in her booklet. Hope I can help you-

night owl · Mar 13, 2003

I've seen this ulcer many times. We had one particular resident that was up and walking around one day, the next day he refused to get OOB, the third day he had this blackened area the size of a quarter on his sacrum and in a week it was the size of a CD maybe alittle bigger with sloughing and eschar. He was turned frequently, his appetite dwindled greatly and it grew larger. He became septic and died the following week....Very interesting

Tookie · Apr 9, 2003

I understand what you're saying about the ulcers and agree that they have been in existence for quite some time. I read about this a couple of months ago and found it to be useful to give to staff to ensure that they understood that it was world wide, common and not necessarily due to poor nursing care - which is an unfortunate common thought when this occurs. So if you can say especially to a newer staff member that this is part of the dying process and here is something to read - l see that as a positive. - Be interested in your thoughts on this.

Tookie

kdhnursern · Oct 10, 2009

I had a resident who was admitted to the hospital and came back a few days later. Hospital transfer noted "red areas" to buttocks. Transferred back to facility per ambulance, a 10 minute ride. When I did her readmit skin assessment, I noted dark purple unblanchable area to the right of the coccyx. This was surrounded by red blanchable area in horseshoe shape over sacrum. At that time, called hospital to inform of Deep Tissue Injury which is a Stage IV in LTC. They sent a nurse to assess and she agreed with me. Personally, I thought it looked like she had been placed on a bedpan and left. This may have actually been a Kennedy Terminal Ulcer. I had forgotten about them. Only had seen one of them previously and it presented differently on a resident at a different facility I worked in several years ago and that resident had not been out of the facility but was a Hospice patient.