Private hospital patients at higher risk for bedsores

Patients in the Kingdom’s private hospitals are more likely than those in public hospitals to develop pressure ulcers or bedsores, Minister of Health Abdul Latif Wreikat said. Although he did not present figures on the prevalence of bedsores in the Kingdom’s hospitals, Wreikat told The Jordan Times earlier this week that many patients are transferred from private hospitals to the King Hussein Medical Centre to be treated for pressure ulcers they developed while being treated in other hospitals. According to the UK National Health Service website, bedsores develop when sustained pressure is placed on a particular part of the body and interrupts the blood supply to that part of the body. Blood contains oxygen and other nutrients that are needed to help keep tissue healthy. Without a constant blood supply, tissue damage occurs and the tissue will eventually die. People with normal mobility do not develop pressure ulcers as their body automatically makes hundreds of regular movements that prevent pressure building up on any part of their body. Bedsores frequently occur in hospitals when bedridden patients remain immobile for long periods of time. “Pressure ulcers are an international problem and the number one headache for hospitals across the world,” Hiske Smart, a South African nurse specialised in wound healing and tissue repair, said in a lecture organised this week by Molnlycke Healthcare and the Jordan Drugstore Company. Patients at high risk for bedsores include the elderly and those who are particularly fat or thin, the expert said, adding that nurses are always blamed for bedsores in hospitals. Wreikat said that nurses are responsible for making sure to turn bedridden hospital patients regularly so that they do not develop bedsores. He noted that intensive care unit patients are at greater risk of developing bedsores and should be checked on every two hours. Smart also noted in her lecture that tobacco smoking severely impairs the healing of wounds. Because smoking causes blood vessels to constrict, she explained, blood carrying oxygen — which is necessary for healing wounds — travels to the site of the wound more slowly, prolonging healing time. One cigarette reduces the flow of oxygen to an injury by 20 per cent for one hour, she explained, so it is essential for wound patients who smoke to quit in order to enjoy a speedy and successful recovery.