It is very important to bring to light the major causes of pressure ulcers (or bed sores as they are often referred to) in nursing home residents.

One thing that most people are very well aware of is the fact that blood carries nutrients to different parts of the body. The blood, which flows through our bodily systems to all of our organs and the different areas of our body, carries nutrients to the various areas of our bodies. That includes the skin, and the skin is the largest and one of the most important organs that we have on our body. As the blood flows to different parts of our skin, this helps our skin to stay healthy and firm.

Now what you may notice is that for instance, if you were to take your thumb and push it against the table or even another part of your body and then take a look at your thumb, you’ll notice it changed color for a moment. It changed from red to something else, and the reason for that is because the pressure is causing the blood not to flow to that particular area for that moment. This shows the reason why having unrelieved pressure on any one portion of your body for an extended period of time compromises that area of the skin. This is because the pressure on that area is preventing the blood from reaching the skin. This is the reason why when we sit in a chair or lay on our beds we do not stay in once place for long periods of time. We move around so to that the blood can flow to the different parts of our body.

Now for an elderly resident who is in a nursing home, they may not be able to move on their own, and as a result if they are left laying in one position for too long, what happens is, just like with your thumb when you push it against a table, that unrelieved pressure on one particular part of the body prevents blood from flowing. The oxygenation which comes from that blood and provides nutrients to that portion of the skin.

This is why it is incredibly important for nursing homes to assist with turning and repositioning their patients on a regular basis. So, if you’ve got a loved one in a nursing home, it is very important that you take note of that and make sure that they’re not being left in one position for a long period of time. The standard of care requires that every resident be repositioned every two hours by the nursing staff. So, if you don’t see that happening for your loved one in your nursing home, it’s important that you go and talk to a nurse and make sure that they take care of that. And that they’re moving your loved one every two hours to relieve that pressure on that part of the body.

If you, a family member or a friend have been injured due to the neglect of others in a New York nursing home, call Leitner Varughese at (855) LV LAW NY (855-585-2969), or visit our website at http://www.lvlawny.com.