pressure ulcer prevention

[juliem]

The facility that I work in has excellent assesment/monitoring practices for determining geriatric patients at high risk for skin breakdown (Braden Scale, weekly skin care team rounds, etc...). Support devices are implemented as needed, preventive measures are conveyed in the care plan including "turn patient q 2h" however there is no documentation that this is being done. Stage 1 pressure areas occur too often in my opinion and I acknowledge that every member of the unit nursing staff is responsible. Does anyone out there hang turning/repo. charts in patient rooms so that any nurse/nurse aide can quickly determine the need for a position change (even if it's not their patient)? and has this, in addition to a sound preventive assesment protocol, made a difference?

[moonshadeau, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, APN, NP, CNS]

In a facility that I used to work in (which one exactly I don't really remember) they had a turning schedule in the room of the patient that needed to be turned. This was a fairly standard schedule for all patients. For example, at 10:00am everyone was on their right side, at 12:00am everyone was up for lunch, at 2:00pm it was on the back, at 4:00pm it was left side. This way if you had an at risk patient at a certain time you should know what side they should be on. Of course the turning schedule was individualized per patient needs. This worked fairly well for staff. At another facility they made a list of at risk patient and had their shift divided into hours. A code was set aside for the key and the aides were asked to chart what postition the patient was in throughout the shift. Of course also you have to have dilligent staff that can keep up with the turning. That in itself is the hardest part, with their busy day. Hope this helps. P.S. Always nice to see someone from my old stomping ground in this B.B

[juliem]

Originally posted by moonshadeau:

In a facility that I used to work in (which one exactly I don't really remember) they had a turning schedule in the room of the patient that needed to be turned. This was a fairly standard schedule for all patients. For example, at 10:00am everyone was on their right side, at 12:00am everyone was up for lunch, at 2:00pm it was on the back, at 4:00pm it was left side. This way if you had an at risk patient at a certain time you should know what side they should be on. Of course the turning schedule was individualized per patient needs. This worked fairly well for staff. At another facility they made a list of at risk patient and had their shift divided into hours. A code was set aside for the key and the aides were asked to chart what postition the patient was in throughout the shift. Of course also you have to have dilligent staff that can keep up with the turning. That in itself is the hardest part, with their busy day. Hope this helps. P.S. Always nice to see someone from my old stomping ground in this B.B

Yes, it helps- thanks for the input!!Julie