An Infographic About Pressure Sores
Pressure sores, including bedsores, decubitus, or pressure ulcers, are conditions that often happen to patients in nursing homes.
Patients who suffer from pressure sores should receive appropriate medical treatment immediately to prevent complications.
Let’s take a more in-depth look at pressure sores facts through the following explanations.
You can also see the infographic at the end of this article to learn more about this topic.
What are Pressure Sores?
Pressure sores signify systematic poor care at medical facilities and other long-term care institutions.
Patients in nursing homes, hospitals, and assisted living facilities often suffer from pressure sores.
The common symptoms of pressure sores are pain, burning, and itching in some skin regions.
What Causes Pressure Sores?
Pressure sores can happen due to some reasons, which follows:
- Age
- Living in a nursing home
- Lack of immobility
- Lack of pain perception
- Malnutrition
- Urinary or fecal incontinence
- Diabetes
- Smoking
Stages of Pressure Sores
There are five stages of pressure sores, according to the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP), which are:
1. Stage 1
In stage one, pressure sores are still hard to detect, especially in patients with dark skin tones. However, the common symptoms of stage one are
- Intact skin with non-blanchable redness of a localized area, usually over a bony prominence.
- Different color from the surrounding area
- May be painful
2. Stage 2
The symptoms are getting more visible in stage two, which are:
- A red or pink wound bed in shallow open ulcer
- No slough or bruising, just a shiny or dry shallow ulcer
3. Stage 3
In stage three, patients lose skin tissue completely. Other common symptoms of stage three are:
- Complete thickness tissue loss
- Bone, tendon, or muscle are still not visible
- Slough doesn’t obscure the depth of tissue loss
- Sometimes include undermining and tunneling
- Bone or tendon is not directly palpable
4. Stage 4
Exposed bone, tendon, or muscle due to total thickness tissue loss is the main symptom of stage four. Other symptoms are:
- Slough or eschar may be visible on the wound bed
- Undermining and tunneling often happen
- Bone or tendon is visible and palpable
- Can extend into muscles or supporting structure (fascia, tendon, or joint capsule)
Unstageable
This is the last stage of pressure sores. It happens when total thickness tissue loss in which the slough or eschar covers the base of the ulcer in the wound bed.
Complications from Pressure Sores
Pressure sores can lead to severe complications without medical treatment.
Some complications caused by pressure sores are
- Gangrene
- Osteomyelitis
- Sepsis
- Necrotizing Fasciitis,
- Death
Closing
From the explanation above, pressure sores can lead to fatal incidents if not treated appropriately.
Therefore, knowing the stages and taking medical treatment as soon as the symptoms appear is essential to prevent severe conditions and complications.
To learn more about pressure sores, check the following infographic.
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