Bed Sores can be a painful experience for your elderly loved ones and it can also be a cause of concern if you are the family nursing assistant. It can also be a concern for the medical professionals if the patient is suffering from a long term illness.

Bed sores are also known as pressure ulcers and people who are bedridden or spend significant time in a bed or a chair and don’t shift positions are at risk of developing bed sores that can quickly turn into a major inconvenience for the frail elders. It is always better to prevent a serious medical problem than to deal with it after it has already caused significant damage. In this blog post we will discuss a few tips that can prove helpful in preventing bed sores.

Check for early signs of bed sores

The family nursing assistant or professional nursing assistant can look out for early signs of bed sores. The common signs include changes in skin color. The skin turns blue or purple in individuals with darker skin and pink or red in those with lighter skin. Change in skin temperature can also be an early symptom of bed sore. For instance, excess warmth indicates inflammation, while coolness indicates little or no blood flow to the area.

Reposition in frequent intervals

The nursing assistants should make sure that the bedridden patients change their position in frequent intervals. Depending on a patient’s abilities, the nursing assistant should ask the patient to change positions for instance, if they have been sitting for a long time they can be asked to stand for a while or move from one side of the body to the back and vice-versa.

Follow a healthy diet

Diet can play a major role in preventing any health issue. Encourage the elderly to consume a healthy diet that will help them to maintain their weight. As excess weight can put added stress on the body’s pressure points and lead to bed sores. Maintaining a healthy weight is an important part of preventing skin breakdown.