Nursing home not saying this? My mom has been in and out of hospitals and nursing home sub-acute wing for 3 weeks.
Yesterday we received a phone call from nurse asking if mom can sign a paper to bring in a wound doctor because she has an "open wound" on her butt. Said she was scratching it.
Mom has a sling on her broken arm and a broken pelvis. She has been drugged up for pain with morphine and dilautin. I cannot imagine how she reached around her body and "scratched her butt" due to her condition. I am thinking the nursing home is saying this to cover themselves for her getting bedsore.
I haven't seen her put in different positions much at all which could have to due with her arm in sling and pelvis which were so extremely painful.
I have a meeting with the staff and want to address this situation. Opinions?
Good luck to you and your mom,
Carol
My wife has been bedridden for almost 6 years and this is her first bedsore problem. I believe the use of a high density foam mattress is what prevented other types of bedsores. Incidentally, I also use without problems a full body mesh sling to help raise my wife off the bed to re position her up the bed and change the sheets.
I have read that if there are a lot of medical issues, it's not uncommon to get them.
Dtrinfl2, is your mother on Hospice?
getting a wound care nurse in would be an excellent more.
The other thing to be really concerned about is proper cleaning after a bowel movement. That means getting right down to the anus with a wet washcloth or wipe and getting the cream right down there. Apart from the obvious reasons if feces is not properly cleaned off the area becomes extremely sore and itchy. It is possible this happened and she did in fact scratch down there because she could not stand the itch. Check her fingernails! (Personal experience - the best teacher)
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