Pressure Ulcer Prevention

[RLDickman]

I am interested in hearing from others about successful practices in preventing pressure ulcers in high-risk hospitalized patients (ICU, ventilator, pressors) or about any root cause analysis tools/findings in regards to pressure ulcers with this patient population.

[whyme001]

Hi RL Dickman,

What are some of the pressure ulcer prevention and management interventions your facility has implemented?

[Cactus Nurse]

I literally turn the pt. on their hip... none of this pillow under the back and "they are on their side" it doesn't relieve anything.... I turn them, pillow in upper back, THEN i slide my arm closest to the upper half under their hip, my other arm over them and pull their lower half back... this puts them in a V shape....it's a bit difficult on larger pt and takes pratice because it can REALLY hurt your back if not done properly, but it's most effective....

then pillow between the knees..

You can fold the pillow under the back to hold them up if needed....

Using a pad to help turn them on their hip, is sometimes helpful, just make sure you don't pull the pad and not them lol....

Hope my imaginary example makes sense :)

[MunoRN, RN]

I literally turn the pt. on their hip... none of this pillow under the back and "they are on their side" it doesn't relieve anything.... I turn them, pillow in upper back, THEN i slide my arm closest to the upper half under their hip, my other arm over them and pull their lower half back... this puts them in a V shape....it's a bit difficult on larger pt and takes pratice because it can REALLY hurt your back if not done properly, but it's most effective....

then pillow between the knees..

You can fold the pillow under the back to hold them up if needed....

Using a pad to help turn them on their hip, is sometimes helpful, just make sure you don't pull the pad and not them lol....

Hope my imaginary example makes sense :)

The general goal of pressure ulcer prevention is to even distribute the patient's weight as evenly as possible over the available body surface, which means avoiding focusing the patient's weight on a single bony prominence, which is putting the patient directly onto their hip in a full side lying position should be avoided or at least used sparingly.