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Nursing
Home Patient Rights
Tag F314 - Bed Sores
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Government Reort: 1 in 10 Nursing
Home Residents
suffer from bed sores!!
Among Nursing Home Residents: United States,
2004
u.s. department of health and human services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Health Statistics
Of the 1.5 million current U.S. nursing home residents in 2004,
about 159,000 (11%) had pressure ulcers of any stage. Stage 2 was
the most common (5%), accounting for about 50% of all pressure ulcers.
Stages 1, 3, and 4 made up about the other 50% of all ulcers.
Pressure ulcer prevalence varied by age, sex, and length of time
since admission to the nursing home, but not by race.
Residents aged 64 years and under were more likely than older residents
to have pressure ulcers (14% and 10%, respectively). Pressure ulcers
were more common in males (13%) than in females (10%). Residents
in nursing homes for 1 year or less (16%) were more likely to have
pressure ulcers than those with a longer length of stay (7%). There
was no significant difference between white and nonwhite populations
with respect to having pressure ulcers.
Pressure ulcer prevalence varied by different resident clinical
characteristics.
Among nursing home residents, those with a recent weight loss (20%)
were more likely to have pressure ulcers than those who had not
had a recent weight loss (10%). Nursing home residents who had high
immobility (16%) had an 11% greater occurrence of pressure ulcers
than those without high immobility (5%). Polypharmacy, or taking
more than eight medications, was related to a greater prevalence
of pressure ulcers (13% and 9%, respectively). Pressure ulcers were
more prevalent (12%) among residents who had any recent bowel or
bladder incontinence than among continent residents (7%).
Thirty-five percent of nursing home residents with stage 2 or higher
pressure ulcers received special wound care.
Among residents with stage 2 or higher pressure ulcers, 35% received
wound care by specially trained professionals or staff. The percentage
receiving special wound care was slightly higher for those with
stage 4 (40%) than those with stage 2 (33%) or stage 3 (37%); however,
these differences were not statistically significant.
Definitions
Pressure ulcers: Nursing home providers were asked the highest stage
of any pressure ulcer the sampled resident currently had. This measure
had five categories: no pressure ulcer, stage 1, stage 2, stage
3, and stage 4.
Recent Weight Loss: It is defined by a "yes" response
to the following question: "Has the sampled nursing home resident
had weight loss of 5% or more during the past 30 days or 10% or
more during the past 180 days?"
High Immobility: It is measured using two measures, bed mobility
(how resident moves to and from lying position, turns side to side,
and positions body while in bed) and transfer (how resident moves
between surfaces?to and from: bed, chair, wheelchair, and standing
position). Each measure had five response categories: independent,
supervision, limited assistance, extensive assistance, and total
dependence. Residents were considered to have high immobility if
they had a response of "extensive assistance" or "total
dependence" for either or both bed mobility and transfer.
Recent Incontinence: It is measured using five categories: continent,
usually continent (incontinent episodes less than weekly), occasionally
incontinent (incontinent episodes once a week), frequently incontinent
(incontinent 2 to 3 times a week), and total dependence (incontinent
all or almost all of the time) in the last 14 days. Residents were
considered to have incontinence if they were at least "usually
incontinent" of the bladder or bowel.
Has a family
member developed bedsores ulcers? Nursing Home Neglect
can include failing to prevent bedsores. Elderly patients
must be moved and turned frequently so that bedsores don't develop.
Bed Sores left untreated can victimize the elderly patient and even
cause wrongful death. Bed Soresare very often caused by a Nursing
Home's inexcusable failure to turn a patient frequently.
Nursing Home Maplractice
Our office represents victims of Nursing home Abuse and Neglect.
If you feel that you or your loved one has been injured as a result
of nursing home
abuse please call 1-617-479-4300
or use our free case evaluation form below:
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