Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers Medicine Essay (Essay Sample)

Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers
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Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention Of Pressure Ulcers
Question 8.1 Foundations of Best Practice for Skin and Wound Management- Linda Norton
This guide is well presented with illustrations showing the various stages of Pressure Ulcer (PU) management. It is easy to follow with details of the prevention and treatment of a pressure ulcer, combined with a theoretical background. Specifically, it uses a Wound Prevention and Management (Norton et al., 2017) cycle guide, which shows all the steps- in a logical way of how to deal with a PU.
The guide gives recommendations to support the healthcare staff in planning and prevention of pressure ulcers. It provides three guiding principles to manage PUs: use of the management cycle, a constant flow of information among the team and lastly that the patient should make decisions about their care.
Appropriate Strategies in Assessing and Managing a Patient with a Stage 3 Pressure Ulcer
Stage3 Pressure Ulcer has these characteristics: Full-thickness skin loss, subcutaneous fat may be visible but bone tendon or muscles are not exposed (Norton et al. 2017). Shedding of dead tissue may be present but does not obscure the depth of tissue loss and may include undermining or tunneling (NPUAP, 2014). In this stage, the patient may not feel any pain, because of tissue damage.
A stage 3 PU will be classed under FTW-which means full-thickness wound. The PU is then documented using descriptions such as size, location, tunneling, base tissue appearance, odor, induration, pain, and infection. Treatment involves the management of local and distant infections, removal of dead cells, maintaining a moist environment so that the wound can heal and surgery if necessary. The wound should be cleaned with saline water and a dressing used after the wound has been debrided. If the wound does not heal, topical antibiotics can be used (Norton et al. 2017).