decubitus ulcers

Bedsores. ULCERS caused by unduly sustained skin pressure. These affect especially the buttocks, the heels, the elbows and the back of the head of people with loss of sensation from neurological damage or who are paralysed or too debilitated to move much. Bedsores may progress to complete local loss of skin with exposure of the underlying tendons or bone.

Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005

Decubitus ulcers

A pressure sore resulting from ulceration of the skin occurring in persons confined to bed for long periods of time

Mentioned in: Immobilization

Patient discussion about decubitus ulcers

Q. I ask a client's Dr. to script flexaril for a lower back spasm and he made it for a drug called zanaflex? I am unfamiliar with zanaflex, what is the difference between it and flexaril 25mg? Benefits? Risks? I got him to order the air mattress and extended bed because client is 6'3" and is already bedridden on my 1st day..try to beat the skin breakdown, already stage I decubitis ulcers. I tried to talk the client into slideboard and lift away arm wheelchair...noway..he wants to walk bent with a rolling walker. He already had a lift chair delivered, so he just goes from bed to lift chair. He refuses to let me bathe him. He can't see, and he has me check his draw up on insulin to make sure it's right. He sends the P.T. man right back out the door after he signs the sheet. Difficult pt.!

A. Flexeril and Zanaflex are different drugs but are both muscle relaxants. There are hardly any differences between the two, clinically wise. If the doctor thought one is better than the other for your client I would suggest you take his advice and use the one he gave you.

More discussions about decubitus ulcers

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References in periodicals archive

A stage 4 sacral decubitus ulcer and an ulceration of the left heel were also noted on exam.

A Case of Ignatzschineria indica Bacteremia following Maggot Colonization

Based on this case report and past literature, we recommend surveillance biopsies of long-standing decubitus ulcers to look for malignant transformation to SCC in patients who are found to be hypercalcemic with elevated PTHrP and no other evidence of malignancy.

Squamous cell carcinoma (Marjolin's ulcer) arising in a sacral decubitus ulcer resulting in humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy

Menke, "Infected decubitus ulcer in German," Langenbecks Archiv fur Chirurgie.

Surgical treatment of 55 patients with pressure ulcers at the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Kosovo during the period 2000-2010: a retrospective study

Frequently, they suffer from bedsores or decubitus ulcers as physicians call them.

Now, smart cushioning to prevent bedsores, postural defects

His co-guardians filed suit against Kateri Residence and the hospital regarding the patient's admission and negligent treatment for decubitus ulcers in the area of the buttocks and sacrum.

Legal case briefs for nurses

In both the ambulatory-onset and inpatient-onset groups, decubitus ulcers and nonhealing surgical wounds were associated with the highest complication rates.

Skin and soft tissue infection rates, costs rise

If you look at those teamwork failures, a lot of effort centers on training and teamwork in decubitus ulcers and diagnostic errors.

What's next in the drive to eliminate preventable harm and cut costs?

Hospitals serving higher shares of Hispanic and blacks had higher rates of decubitus ulcers. With some exceptions, hospitals serving higher proportions of black patients had quality problems associated with surgical procedures and postsurgical care.

Do minority patients use lower quality hospitals?

Buerhaus ("Economics in Health Care") and Kathy Douglas, MHA, RN ("Staffing Unleashed"), to undercover the real impact of nurse staffing ratios on such things as the cost of care delivery and the hospital's bottom line, nurse turnover, and safety measures, such as failure to rescue, postoperative sepsis, pneumonia mortality, deep vein thrombosis, and decubitus ulcers. What has been your experience since the establishment of the first law mandating hospital nurse-to-patient staff ratios?

Re-evaluating nurse-patient ratios: beyond the numbers and the law

In summary, patients age 65 and older experienced significantly higher rates than younger patients for complications of anesthesia, decubitus ulcers, failure to rescue, iatrogenic pnuemothorax, postoperative hip fracture, postoperative hemorrhage, postoperative physiologic and metabolic derangement, postoperative respiratory failure, postoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT), postoperative sepsis, and postoperative wound dehiscence (see Table 1).

Increased risk for patient safety incidents in hospitalized older adults

For example, the literature notes that decubitus ulcers are uncommon in immobile bedridden ALS patients, the skin is supple and has reduced elasticity, and on biopsy there are quantitative structural and biochemical abnormalities that appear to correlate with disease duration.

Quantitative measurements of skin elasticity is a "highly promising" non-invasive biomechanical biomarker for detecting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and predicting disease progression, according to research reported at the American Academy of Neurology's annual scientific meeting in Seattle

Pressure ulcers, also called decubitus ulcers, are a common challenge of humanity and are exceptionally difficult to heal.

Elimination of a pressure ulcer with electrical stimulation--a case study