My mom has a pressure sore on her bum, right side of her crack about the size of a nickel. She sits in a recliner all day or in her wheelchair. She wears incontinence briefs. The hospice nurse wrote orders to have her repositioned every two hours at night. My mom sleeps on her right side at night with a pillow between her legs.
Does repositioning her a night, waking her every two hours make any sense? It is really disrupting her sleep and is causing her to sleep away most of the day and be very confused upon waking in the morning due to a lack of a good night's sleep?
Would repositioning do any good for the sore that isn't on any area that touches the mattress? Just trying to understand and wondering if a good night of uninterrupted sleep isn't more important.
Also right now silicone cream is being applied to the area each time she is toileted. Any other suggestions? Thank you and grateful for any insights or suggestions.
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If Mom is not laying on the skin injury site, the nurses's advice for 2 hourly turns could be less about that particular injury & more about preventing new skin sores.
This would be nursing best practice, but this has to be sensible in a home environment. You need your sleep too!
Luckily good pressure relieving air mattressess (for night) & seat cushions (for day) are available. These, plus creams, dressings, good nutrician, plus regular turns should hopefully help heal up bedsores.
Unfortunately some people can have all of the preventative measures & it still happens 😞
others seem to lay motionless & don't.
My mom did get a small ulcer on her tailbone after she was in the nursing home and spending her days in her wheelchair - at home she would have been moved throughout the day, into bed for a nap or into a different chair. I ended up getting her a ROHO seat cushion and she never had any more problems.
(I think it was this one)
https://www.pressuresorecushions.com/collections/roho-cushions/products/roho-quadtro-select-mid-profile-cushion
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Unfortunately, turning a person regularly for a pressure sore is standard treatment, even with an alternating pressure pad in place. I have to wonder how this factors in in a hospice and/or end of life situation, though. Both your mother and you need rest!
My late father had pressure points and sores (finally having successful surgery on one on his tailbone) but this was before he went on hospice. My sister and I shared the 2-hour turning routine and it was, to be frank, grueling.
I would talk to the hospice nurse and doctor very openly and honestly (in private) about what they are trying to accomplish here.
I don’t think asking you on your own to wake every two hours, indefinitely, is reasonable. I would have had a mental or physical breakdown if trying to keep that up myself for more than a couple weeks.