Enterococcus avium bed-sore infection: A rara avis

Enterococci are Gram-positive cocci that are normal inhabitants of the urogenital and intestinal tracts of human beings and animals. Of the pathogenic species of Enterococci, Enterococcus avium is an infrequent cause of human infections. This report is an atypical case of bed-sore infection caused by E. avium in an elderly male with multiple comorbidities. Although the patient was given antibiotics along with surgical debridement, he passed away. This case calls attention to the pathogenic prospect of E. avium in clinical settings

Prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers

Repeated or chronic pressure on the eminent part of the body will cause circulation disorder to the affected part of the body. The lack of circulation will result in damage and necrosis of the tissue. This phenomenon is defined as pressure sore. Due to growth of aging population and chronic disease, incidence and prevalence rate is in-creasing rapidly. This leads to increased duration of hospital stay, and medical expenditure. Hence, prevention of pressure sore and appropriate treatment is essential in order to diminish distress of the patient and health care provider. Prevention of pressure sore can be accomplished by frequent position change of the patient, skin care, and appropriate nutrition care. Frequent position change is known to be the most important and effective method to prevent pressure sore. Skin care can be achieved by choosing proper dressing material, management of exu-date, and protection of the tissue around the wound. In addition, appropriate nutrition care in order to correct protein-calorie imbalance should also be performed. Necrotic tissue can cause inflammation, and it can also be a good source of bacterial growth. Therefore, debridement of necrotic tissue is most fundamental and essential part in the treatment of pressure sore. Meanwhile, when the patient is not a candidate for surgical treatment due to poor general condition, many methods of dressing can be performed. Recently, dressing material with silver component, and vacuum assisted closure dressing is being performed frequently. In case of surgical treatment, after debridement of necrotic tissue, reconstruction can be performed by split-thickness skin grafting, full-thickness skin grafting, or primary closure. However, majority of reconstruction is performed by flap surgery. Rotation or advancement flap is usually performed.

Using pre-warning intervention to prevent the acute bed sore among patients who have accepted the cardiac operation under direct vision / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective To evaluate the effect of using pre-warning intervention in the course of nursing patients who have accepted the cardiac operation under direct vision. Methods Using pre-warning intervention in 736 patients who have accepted the intracardiac surgery under extracorporeal circulation. Results There were not patients have aucte bed sore after using the pre-warning intervention. Conclusion Using pre-warning intervention can prevent the acute bed sore effectively among the preoperative patients,and then reduce the unnecessary dissension between nurses and patients,improve the quality of nursing and the patients′ satisfaction.

A Study on Prevalence and Nursing Intervention of Bed Sore Patients who Received Regional Home Care Services / 기본간호학회지

This study was to identify the nursing intervention method in finding out the incidence, risk factor, prevention and treatment of bed sore clients who received regional home care nursing services. The eleven home care nurse practitioners took the survey on 97 patients who received home care nursing service from Seoul City Nurses Association for one month from September 26 to October 26 1996. A modified version of Braden's bed sore assessment tool for bed sore risks and a tool for assessment of bed sore stage and measurement bed sore sizes by Bergstrom, Barden, Laguzza and Holman(1987) were as research tools for this study and a questionnaire with 40 questions and 12 items on nursing activities was used to find out the prevention and treatment of bed sores. Also, two open ended questions were used on current approaches and efforts of the treatment being applied to clients. The finding of the study were summarized as following : 1. The rate of bed sore occurrence was 47.4%. 2. The areas of bed sore occurrence were hip(28.9%), sacrum(18.6%), great trochanter(14.4%) and the average number of sore spots were 2.26. 3. Two groups-one with bed sores and the other without were studied to determine prediction factors for bed sore risks. Sensory function, humidity, level of activity, mobility, nutrition, skin friction and chapping and body temperature turned out to be statistically significant factors for bed sores. Also the age of clients turned out to be a individual characteristic variable significantly affecting the rate of bed sore occurrences. 4. The education for clients and family on systematic skin assessment and bed sores and practice of active/passive R.O.M are mainly used as nursing activities for bed sore care. 5. The treatment method varied by stages of bed sores. Sometimes folk remedies like applying the powders of dried elm tree roots to sores were used. Good nutrition, frequent position change and skin care turned to be the most effective means to fast recovery of sores.