Preventing Pressure Injuries

Help Us Protect Your Skin

Your skin has multiple functions that help protect and regulate your body systems. The six main benefits the skin provides are:

• Protection—It protects against harmful outside elements and prevents excessive loss of fluids and electrolytes.
• Immunity—It protects against invading microorganisms and produces antimicrobial peptides that initiate your host response to fight off infection.
• Thermoregulation—It helps maintain body temperature through circulation and sweating.
• Sensation—It has nerve receptors for pain, touch, temperature, itch and pressure.
• Metabolism—It protects you from exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, and cells in the epidermis form vitamin D.
• Communication—It allows you to express emotions and identify a person, and the skin plays a large role in beauty assessment and body image.
  

By assisting your health care team in lowering your risk factors, you can prevent most pressure injuries.

Protect Your Skin From Injury:

• If you are in bed, change your position every two hours.
• When shifting position or moving in bed, don’t pull or drag yourself across the sheets, and do not pull or push with your heels.
• Avoid repetitive movements, such as rubbing your foot on the sheets to scratch an itchy spot.
• If you are in a chair, you should change your position at least every hour.
• If you are able to shift your own weight, you should try to do so every 15 minutes while sitting.
• If you are in a chair or wheelchair, you should have an air cushion underneath you. If you don’t, talk to your nurse about getting one placed in your chair.
• Avoid doughnut-shaped cushions—they can cause injury to deep tissues.

Take Care of Your Skin:

• Allow a member of your health care team to inspect your skin at least once per day.
• If you notice any abnormal areas, especially if you feel a spot that is burning or painful, notify your care team immediately.
• Your skin should be cleaned thoroughly as soon as possible after soiling.
• Prevent dry skin by using creams or lotions.
• Do not rub or massage skin over bony parts of your body.

If You Are Confined to Bed for Long Periods of Time:

• Talk to your nurse about getting an air overlay mattress placed on your bed.
• Try to keep the head of the bed as low as possible (unless nursing tells you otherwise).
• Pillows or wedges should be used to keep your knees or ankles from touching each other, but you should never place pillows behind the knee.
• Avoid lying directly on your hip bones when lying on your side.
• When lying on your back, shift your tailbone often to remove pressure from this area.
• Keep your heels up off the surface of the bed and on a pillow if possible.
  

What Is a Pressure Injury?

A pressure injury, or “bedsore,” is an injury to the skin and tissue below. Pressure injuries occur when constant pressure on the skin squeezes tiny blood vessels that supply the skin with nutrients and oxygen. When the skin is starved of nutrients and oxygen for too long, the tissue dies, and a pressure injury forms.

Questions?

Please contact 573-348-8000 for more information about preventing pressure injuries.