suspected DTI v. ecchymosis v. fracture

[RNstudentc/o2010]

Hi, I was wondering if somebody could help me. I don't know how to document this injury. The man fell at home and nobody found him for 3 days, and he just laid there until finally his daughter found him. He has a purple area over his sacrum where he fell and he says that it is painful. Now, could this be a bruise from where he fell since he was laying here and this is where he landed when he fell, could this be a broken coccyx from how he landed, or could this be a pressure ulcer? I was thinking that it is not a pressure ulcer since he says that it is painful and he landed on this region, and you can't really say that it's a break, and to document it as ecchymosis would not be enough information, so should I have documented it as discolored area with pain upon palpation?

Thank you!

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

We cannot diagnose. We only document what we observe.

purple area over the sacrum that is painful to palpation

I would also have taken measurements of the discolored area