Pressure relief mattresses Selecting the correct mattress for pressure relief should take into account these factors in MATTRESS: Microclimate and moisture Activity levels Tissue tolerance Total body weight Repositioning needs Edema Shear and friction Symptom management Bed entrapment When considering support surfaces in bed, healthcare providers must consider the risk of entrapment. Health Canada and [...]
Many wound care clinicians remember the “good old days” when wound dressing product selection simply involved choosing between a handful of products that were essentially variations on the same theme. There was gauze, impregnated gauze and filled gauze pads. In the earlier 20th century, clinicians added antimicrobial solutions, creams and ointments (like Dakin’s solution developed [...]
Pressure sore staging challenged In December 2011, a panel of experts rocked the pressure ulcer world by attacking some of the underpinnings of the current pressure ulcer classification systems (Staging, Grading, Categories). They said that some of the language creates problems from clinical, regulatory, legal and economic perspectives. The advisory panel is proposing the new [...]
Dr. Alois Alzheimer was on call in 1901 when a 51-year-old woman, Frau August D, was admitted to his asylum for the insane in Frankfort. Dr. Alzheimer followed this patient, studied her symptoms and presented her case to his colleagues as what came to be known as Alzheimer’s Disease. When Frau Auguste D died on [...]
The story of Amanda Trujillo is a horrifying one. Briefly, she is a single mom who fought to get off welfare and fulfilled her dream of becoming a nurse. Not only did she become a nurse, she earned a masters and doctorate degree in nursing. One night while working at Banner Health in Arizona, she [...]
Long term care is a highly litigated area of health care. As a legal nurse consultant (LNC) without a clinical background in long term care, I had to educate myself on this specialty. The nursing tasks were familiar but the chart was not. As I worked on more of these cases, I came to rely [...]
Impact of nonhealing wounds Chronic, nonhealing wounds are disabling and constitute a significant burden on patients’ activities of daily living (ADLS) and the healthcare system. Of persons with diabetes, 2% to 3% develop a foot ulcer annually, whereas the lifetime risk of a person with diabetes developing a foot ulcer is as high as 25%.8 [...]
Nurses without long term care experience may be very hesitant to review one of these cases due to their lack of knowledge of these industry specific records. Once you understand where important information is located within these medical records you can use them to support your analysis of the matter. One of the most mystifying [...]
Bill is a 70 year-old-man who developed paraplegia. During his prolonged hospitalization, a stage IV pressure sore formed. One year later, it is still present and it dominates his life at home. Pressure sores may have a huge impact on the quality of a patient’s life. There is a financial impact of prolonged treatment – [...]
Want repeat business? Here are some report “don’ts”. 1. Striking the wrong key Relying on the computer to function as the only proof reader of your LNC report is sure to miss a few common typographical or grammatical errors. An example I frequently see is the wrong word being typed, i.e. “form” when “from” should [...]
