Pressure Ulcer Research Paper

Abstract :

Pressure ulcers are wounds caused to skin and tissue lying beneath because of persistent pressure on the skin. Bedsores most often develop on skin that covers bony areas of the body, such as the heels, ankles, hips and tailbone. People mostly affected by bedsores are those with a poor medical condition that has removed their ability to adjust positions, necessitate them to use a wheelchair or confines them to a bed for a long time. Bedsores can easily develop and are often difficult to treat.. Pressure ulcer, also known as pressure sores or bed sores is found to be prevail in 10% of hospitalized patients as per the statistical report provided by the National Center of Health Statistics (NCHS) in the year 2009. Yet another report

In case of people darker skin, the skin may show discoloration. The site affected by pressure ulcer may be tender, painful, firm, soft, warm or cool compared with the surrounding skin. At the second stage, the external layer of skin (epidermis) and the layer beneath it (dermis) is damaged or lost and the skin deepens and becomes pinkish red finally forms into a fluid-filled blister or a ruptured blister . When the third stage commences, the ulcer becomes a deep wound and the skin breaks up and exposes some fat. The tissues beneath the ulcer tissue becomes dead and the damage may spread into the healthy layers of the skin. At stage four ulcer shows large-scale loss of tissue and the muscle is exposed because of the wound, bone or tendons .The bottom of the wound likely contains dead tissue that 's yellowish or dark and crusty. The damage often extends beyond the primary wound below layers of healthy skin. A pressure ulcer is considered unstageable if its surface is covered with yellow, brown, black or dead tissue. It’s not possible to see how deep the wound is.

Effects of Pressure Ulcers Pressure ulcers cause enormous pain and discomfort to the patients. Physically the pain experienced is unbearable. This is the physically affected parameter but there are psychological parameters because the patients don’t get adequate care from their

In most of the cases, this compression is caused when the bone rubs against a surface, such as when a person remains in a single position for a long period of time. After a persistent period of time with limited blood flow to tissues and leads to tissue death if left untreated. Shearing is a force exerted when a person 's skin stays in one place and cause the pinching off of the blood vessels which may lead to tissue death. Friction plays an important role in causing pressure ulcers. Temperature is also one of the important factor causing pressure ulcer. The cutaneous metabolic demand rises by 13% for every 1 °C rise in cutaneous temperature. When supply cannot meet demand, then pressure ulcer occurs.

At present two major theories about the development of pressure ulcers coexist. The first and most accepted is the deep tissue injury theory which claims that the ulcers begin at the deepest level, around the bone, and move outward until they reach the epidermis. The second, less popular theory is the top-to-bottom model which says that skin first begins to deteriorate at the surface and then proceeds