Top Causes of Bedsores in Nursing Homes

Nursing home residents who are either partially or entirely immobile need around-the-clock care to assist them with daily tasks. One of the most important tasks these individuals need help with is moving or shifting their positions frequently in their beds or on their chairs. If they aren’t moved often enough, injuries known as bedsores, or pressure ulcers, can develop.

Concerns of bedsores arise when caregivers in nursing homes and long-term care facilities give improper or infrequent attention to their immobile patients to the detriment of the residents’ health. So, what are bedsore causes? What exactly leads to these injuries occurring? We’ll give you all the details so that you can ensure your loved one stays healthy and safe.

How Do Bedsores Occur?

There are several ways that bedsores develop, from the softness of a bed to bad posture and the inability to adjust one’s body position. These injuries are the result of prolonged pressure on certain areas of the body where muscle and fat density are low, such as the tailbone or shoulders, causing a lack of blood flow to those areas.

Bedsores usually develop in one of three ways:

• Pressure on bony parts of the body for extended periods of time.
• Friction of skin rubbing against clothing or bedding and usually mixed with moisture, generally from poor hygiene.
• Shear, or two surfaces that move in the opposite direction, is usually caused when a bed is elevated at the head, and the resident’s body slides down, but their skin stays in place.

Individuals who cannot move well or at all without assistance are likely to develop these pressure injuries due to the previously mentioned three main bedsore causes as well as any of the following.

Poorly Designed Furniture

Unfortunately, most furniture for the elderly and immobile is not made with comfort in mind but rather for ease of use. Wheelchairs and hospice-style beds are commonplace in nursing homes, and each lends itself to causing bedsores.

Wheelchairs, in general, are not known to have soft seats, and immobile residents confined to a wheelchair are unable to shift their body weight to a more comfortable position throughout the day. Sitting on a hard surface for hours at a time can result in bedsores.

Mattresses in nursing home beds are usually not very high quality and are often harder than they should be. A comfortable bed is something everyone wants, not just for a good night’s sleep but for the fact that a softer mattress cushions our bodies and prevents sore muscles or injuries such as bedsores from occurring.

Caregiver Neglect

Health issues and injuries such as bedsores are entirely preventable if a patient is given proper care. But, with the rise in understaffed facilities and overworked employees, those caregivers often neglect resident needs.

This can lead to immobile residents not being moved every two hours as recommended by most medical professionals, which leads to poor hygiene and a much higher chance of bedsores occurring. While caregiver neglect is usually not intentional, it can still cause serious health issues and possibly hospitalization.

Other Health Conditions

Not only can the previously mentioned issues cause bedsores to occur, but immobile residents with other health conditions are at a higher risk of developing bedsores. Those conditions are:

• Cancer
• Malnutrition
• Diabetes
• Heart or kidney failure
• Dementia
• Spinal cord injury or spina bifida
• Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI)
• Recent weight loss

Having any of these health conditions does not guarantee that bedsores will occur. But it’s pertinent to understand that individuals who do have one or more of these issues are at a higher risk and should be monitored more closely than individuals who are otherwise mostly healthy.

How to Keep Your Loved One Healthy

While bedsores are common, they pressure ulcers are a very serious issue per John Hopkins Medicine. Fortunately, they are easy to spot and usually easy to care for and heal from. It’s important to your loved one’s health that you pay attention to how their skin looks, how often they are being moved or repositioned, and what their hygiene schedule is.

Purchasing specialized seat cushions or mattress toppers are just a couple of the ways you can help prevent bedsores from occurring. And if your loved one is already suffering from bedsores, you should get them medical treatment for those pressure injuries before they become more severe.

Now that you have a better understanding of the common bedsore causes and risk factors associated with the development of these injuries, your immobile loved one will be better cared for in their nursing home.