Wound care services provided by nurses cover a broad variety of wounds. In nursing homes, it is very common for people to develop bed sores, or cubital ulcers. At the first and second stages of these bed sores, the process is quite reversible, if the doctors are informed of the signs of ulcers and something is done to change the course of the development of the ulcers. However, when a bed sore reaches stage four, the ulcer is an open, gaping wood, revealing bone and raw flesh. To care for these wounds, registered nurses apply all of the following.
Irrigation
These wounds need to be irrigated regularly to avoid infection. The irrigation is done via several saline-filled plastic syringes of at least fifty to one hundred CCs. A disposable bed pad is placed under the affected body part just prior to irrigation. After the sore is fully irrigated and begun to heal, the soaked pad is thrown away.
Salve and Dressing
A big problem with cubital ulcers is that they develop as a result of dry, crepe-y skin tearing when a patient is moved in or out of bed. Plenty of salve helps relieve the dry skin around the ulcer so that the ulcer itself does not expand its current boundaries. Then the wound is covered with a very clean and sterile bandage to catch any more fluid seeping from the wound and to prevent the patient's wound from becoming much uglier than it is.
Shift Changes and Monitoring
Patients come and go but they still have to have the right kind of care when they need it most. As a rule of thumb, open cubital ulcers should be irrigated, treated, and have received around the clock monitoring if they are going to heel properly. Typically, when something that large and unpleasant exists, wound care requires shift change checks and possibly a change in the bandage. The patient should also never rest on any part of the body with a cubital ulcer because it prevents the wound from healing. Your overnight nurses may also have to check on the ulcer if they have been instructed by the doctor to do so.
Air Bed
You have heard of water beds, but what about air beds? These beds are specially designed with the elderly person in mind and can give someone with cubital ulcers immediate relief of the pain associated with Stage four ulcers. It fills with air, but acts more like a mattress.
