Anatomy

[Aurorabeauty]

Patients in hospital beds are rotated every 2 hours to prevent bedsores. Exactly why is this effective?

[theprof]

Bedsores (decubitus ulcers) are areas of reddened, ulcerating and often degenerating skin caused by sustained pressure combined with lack of movement of the skin area concerned.

Moving the patient frequently prevents prolonged pressure on the vulnerable areas concerned. Remember also that pressure sores can occur on heels and elbows etc as well as the traditional area of the buttocks. This is why careful consideration needs to be given to moving the patient's entire body to prevent bedsores.

Bedsores can develop in a matter of hours in an immobile patient which means that unless these regimes are adhered to, a bedridden patient can wake up with them in the morning. Infected bedsores take a long time to heal and this is a classic case of prevention being better than cure.

[sonali]

this is effective because it reduces the pressure on the sores and helps keep the pain away

[theprof]

sonali, the question was about preventing bedsores ie it assumes there's no bedsores present to start with.

This is why I spoke of vulnerable areas rather than the sores themselves. Reducing the pressure on the sores in the context of the question doesn't come into it as the question doesn't say that sores are present.

Incidentally, this is not nit-picking. The point is that this looks like a typical exam question and you'd get no marks if you talk about reducing pressure on sores that the question doesn't say are present. Until the skin starts to become ulcerated, there's no pain anyway.