Pressure Ulcers

Running head: PRESSURE ULCERS 1

Pressure Ulcers: An Undetected Cell Death
Pao Plana
Inter American University
GEEN 2313 MW 8:30

Running head: PRESSURE ULCERS 2

Abstract
Pressure ulcers are a common problem among adultsas well as children in all health care settings. Prevalence and incidence estimates vary by setting, ulcer stage, and length of follow-up. Risk factors associated with increased pressure ulcer incidence have been identified. Activity or mobility limitation, friction/shear, and abnormalities in nutritional status are the most consistently reported risk factors for pressure ulcers. Pain, infectiouscomplications, prolonged and expensive hospitalizations, persistent open ulcers, and increased risk of death are all associated with the development of pressure ulcers. The tremendous variability in pressure ulcer prevalence and incidence in health care settings suggests that opportunities exist to improve outcomes for persons at risk for and with pressure ulcers

“Localized sites, pressureulcers occur most commonly in areas of compromised pressure. They may be superficial but are originating in underlying tissue” (Thomas, 2007, p. 47). Pressure ulcers, also called decubitus ulcers, pressure sores or bedsores are injuries to the skin that result from long pressure on the skin. The most common places you can see them is in parts that cover bony areas of the body like heels, shoulderblades, hips, ankles, tailbone or buttocks. Pressure ulcers can be described as a slow skin death in disguise. The big problem in all this is that the most people at risk to acquire bedsores are those that have medical condition that limit their ability to change position or confine them to bed for long periods of time. In treating bedridden patients one must discuss or focuses on the basicsymptoms that include the causes and prevention, as well as the different kinds of pressure sores and variety of treatment.
When two or more people talk about decubitus ulcers they have to always start with the symptoms and the cause as well as the way to prevent them. Pressure sores fall into one of four stages based on their severity. The staging system identifies wounds by the tissue layersinvolved. They don’t describe a wound completely and are only an anatomic description of the wound’s depth. The first stage of a pressure ulcer is the most commonly seen by the following qualities: The skin is still intact but appears red on people with lighter skin color. Also the skin doesn’t briefly lighten when touched. On the other hand, in people with darker skin there may be no change in thecolor of their skin it and doesn’t blanch when touched. Basically the skin appears ashen, bluish or maybe even purple, like a bruise you get on your daily basis. The area maybe painful, firm, soft, warmer or even cooler, unlike the skin that is surrounding it. Said specific area has a reactive hyperemia, which is an increase of blood flow to different tissue of the body (Mercks, 2012), can normallybe expected to be present for as long as the pressure occluded blood flow to the said area. In the second stage the ulcer is just starting to be an open wound. The outer layer of the skin and part of the underlying layer of the skin is damaged or lost. The bedsore may appear as a shallow, pinkish red or even basin like wound. It may also appear as an intact or ruptured fluid-filled blister, likewhen you get burned with a stove. Little by little it will become like a miniature crater. At the third stage the ulcer is a deep wound, the loss of skin usually exposes only some amount of fat or even muscle. The sore at the bottom may have some yellowish dead tissue. In this stage the damage extend beyond the primary wound below layers of healthy skin. Finally, in stage four the sore exhibits...