If you, or a loved one, developed a pressure injury / ulcer, the healthcare facility may tell you that it was inevitable because you were a diabetic, or you were incontinent or you were malnourished. Even worse they may tell you that it is your own fault because you didn’t move enough!!
Don’t believe them! The reason you developed a pressure injury is because of unrelieved pressure, on that part of your body where the pressure ulcer has developed, over a period of time…and that time can be a matter of minutes to hours. The time is not really known and is different for each person. However the places people get pressure injuries are well-known; the commonest being the heels and the sacrum (your bottom / base of the spine), greater trochanters (hips), the occiput (the back of the head)… but they can develop anywhere on the body.
Pressure damage starts when tissue is sandwiched between the bony skeleton and a hard surface such as a mattress, operating theatre table or chair. The blood cannot get to that tissue and it starts to die. The process can be really painful but if you are a diabetic with peripheral neuropathy (loss of sensation in your lower limbs) you may not feel the pain of pressure in your heels and huge revolting pressure injuries can develop. This is bad enough but so often diabetics end up having their legs amputated because of heel pressure injuries / ulcers.
In the next article I am going to tell you why incontinence does not cause pressure injuries!
Catherine A. Sharp
Founder & CEO
Expert Witness Nurse Consultants Australia
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