Chapter 19 - Preventing Pressure Ulcers and Assisting with Wound Care

Chapter 19 - Preventing Pressure Ulcers and Assisting With Wound Care

Lecture Outline

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To the Instructor: The quality of health care given by long-term care facilities is evaluated in part by the health care team’s ability to prevent residents from getting pressure ulcers. Preventing pressure ulcers is a major concern of the nursing team because these ulcers are painful, hard to treat, and potentially fatal. Nursing assistants are often the first members of the health care team to notice a change in a patient’s or resident’s skin that could be the beginning of a pressure ulcer. In this chapter, your students will learn about their role in preventing pressure ulcers and assisting the nurse with wound care.

Preventing Pressure Ulcers

1. Explain the term pressure ulcer. Discuss other terms that may also be used, such as bedsore or decubitus. (PowerPoint slides 3–4)

2. Define the term pressure points and list the most common sites for pressure ulcers to form. (PowerPoint slides 5–6)

3. Explain how pressure ulcers develop. (PowerPoint slide 7)

4. Explain why people with limited mobility are the most affected by pressure ulcers. Explain the other risk factors, such as advanced age, poor nutrition and hydration, incontinence, cardiovascular and respiratory problems, and friction and shearing injuries, that place a person at a greater risk of getting pressure ulcers. (PowerPoint slide 8)

5. Explain that the health care team may be evaluated on the basis of its ability to prevent residents from getting pressure ulcers. (PowerPoint slide 9)

6. Explain the four stages in which pressure ulcers develop. (PowerPoint slide 10)

7. Emphasize that the nursing team must make every effort to prevent a pressure ulcer from forming. Stress why prevention of pressure ulcers is always the best approach. Discuss the different ways that a nursing assistant can help keep a person’s skin healthy. (PowerPoint slides 11–13)

8. Describe the special equipment used for preventing pressure ulcers and the uses of each. (PowerPoint slide 14)

Assisting With Wound Care

9. Define the term wound and list the types of wounds that a patient or a resident might have. (PowerPoint slide 15)

10. Explain the importance of wound healing. Discuss the wound-healing process and list the factors that affect it. (PowerPoint slide 16)

11. Explain why wound drains are often used to allow blood and other fluids to flow out of the wound. Also discuss the nursing assistant’s duty regarding wound care for a person who has a drain. (PowerPoint slides 17–18)

Activity: Show students examples of different wound drains you have in the lab.

12. Explain why dressings are applied to wounds. List the factors that help determine what type of dressing is used. (PowerPoint slides 19–22)