A resident who has a pressure ulcer,stage 4 with tunneling, the facility has been treating it for a year before my arrival. It gets a little better, then a little worse. A maddening roller coaster. The resident lays on his back or mostly on his back 24/7, bedfast. Unable to lay to much to either side, and unable to sit up for diagnosis reasons. Resident has had several surgeries related to pressure problems...eg. flap repairs. Physician has made it clear...NO MORE REPAIRS. Resident is middle aged so this will be a continuing problem for many years.
Many of the products such as Maxsorb have been tried without success. Facility skin nurse wants to use vacuum system. Which is ok except, medicaid resident and facility will eat most of the cost. I am disagreeing with using vacuum at this time, because I dont feel that many other more uncostly and possibley effective options have been investigated or attempted.
While I was working in home care we had a wound that would not heal. We had tried what we thought was everything. The doc finally sent me an order that stated "try voodoo if you think it will work" !!! LOL
One of our physical therapist suggested something...... (wish I could remember what it was called exactly). The therapist had to perform the treatment, in home care setting anyway. It was some kind of lavage treatment. Once a day they used a high powered spray gun of sorts, which hooked to tubing with an IV bag of antibiotic solution, and sprayed the wound with the entire bag of solution. I cant remember the details for the life of me and I cant get in contact with this therapist. Anywho.....this treatment was like voodoo! It healed the wound in a week. I wouldnt have believed it but I saw it happen.
So...to make a long story longer, I'm asking for info on this treatment, or any treatments someone might have experience with that will help this resident in a more costly manner.
I've gotten much information from this board that has been very helpful to my residents. No better source for information than a group with experiences to share. Thanks everyone!!
