Preventing Pressure Ulcer in the incontinent adult

Welcome to the first of a weekly educational e-mail on how to care for yourself and your loved ones.

Tips to Preventing Pressure Ulcer in the incontinent adult:

Skin breakdown is a huge concern that often happens in the immobile bedridden older adult. Each year, over 2.5 million older adults in the U.S develop pressure ulcers. These skin breakdowns can be very painful, and often associated with a risk for serious infections.

Three things you can do to prevent pressure ulcers:

1. Rotate the adult’s position every 2-3 hours. This reduces pressure at the area at risk, maintains muscle mass and general tissue integrity and also ensures adequate blood supply to the area at risk

2. Keep the brief/pull-up clean and dry. This means changing the brief/pull-up at least every 3-4 hours, this largely depends on how frequently the individual has incontinence episodes

3. Use a barrier skin protectant cream. Applying a barrier cream to the area helps to prevent skin breakdown. Moisture from sweating, urine, and other contaminants can expose the skin to tearing. Barrier creams help to keep out these contaminants and also reinforce the vulnerable skin.

Until next week.

Please e-mail us with any questions on preventing and managing pressure ulcers in

older adults.

Thank you,

Grace Akin. RN, BSN, FNP