Alternative names: Decubitus Ulcers, Pressure Ulcers, Pressure Sores, Bed Sores, Dermal Ulcers, Pressure Wounds

Wound treatment is cost effective but expensive, and there is no funding for treatment via PBS or Medicare. Bearing in mind that wounds usually effect the elderly who are often the poorest members of the community, in an enormous number of cases patients don't get treatment because they simply can't afford to pay for it.

To me that just doesn't seem right in a first world country like Australia in 2008.

Bedsore Facts

Whether you have endured a pressure wound yourself, or have felt helpless watching the agony of a loved one, you have suffered. Many people have sent messages to us asking for information. A theme that runs through all of these messages is complete amazement that such a thing could happen:

• Hospitals do not advise incoming patients that a percentage of those in the hospital is suffering with bedsores.
• They do not point out that if you are in your seventies or older, your chances of developing a hospital-caused wound may be as great as one in five.
• There is no information provided concerning the devastating nature of the bedsore, the fact that the wound can quickly penetrate through skin, fat and muscle to the bone, often leading to death [sepsis can be a complication].
• No one is advised that bedsores are a common site of hospital-transmitted infections, and that often such infections are completely resistant to available antibiotics.
• And they may not advise patients that specialised support surfaces, able to avoid capillary closure that leads to bedsores, are available.

This web site, and its links to resources, is aimed at correcting these omissions. Publications, posters, advertisements, and publicity are all means to carry out this goal. Our efforts at education also have the goal of convincing government leaders that denying funding for available specialised care for the elderly and frail is false economy.

Your support to this cause can be your testimony that, having experienced the suffering caused by pressure wounds, you are going to do your part to insure that your loved one [or even you], can escape this agony in the future.

Due to staffing shortages, medical funding cuts and other issues, many care facilities are chronically understaffed. This results in patients not being turned, cleaned and fed as often as the ideal standard of nursing would dictate. Massive deep wounds over Stage 2 and chronic infections continue to be an unacceptable standard of care. Such wounds are generally a strong indication of negligence in more than one area.

Where do "Bed Sores" appear?

The most common places for bedsores are over bony prominences (bones close to the skin), such as the elbow, heels, hips, ankles, shoulders, back, coccys/tailbone, and the back of the head.

Who's At Risk?

Anyone who must stay in a bed, chair or wheelchair because of illness or injury, or who cannot change position without help is at high risk.

Why are Seniors more Vulnerable to this Deadly Medical Condition?

In a nursing home setting, turning is costly and dependent on adequate staffing ratios. The use of restraints on residents and/or the lack of incontinence rehabilitation compound the problem.

If a nursing home has a higher than normal percentage of patients with pressure ulcers because the facility specialises in wound care, the staffing level should be commensurate with the higher level of care required.

Seniors are particularly vulnerable because their skin usually becomes thinner and more fragile with age.

How Long Does it take to happen?

Bedsores can develop in a matter of hours.

Most Likely Places to Occur?

Decubitus ulcers can happen during hospitalisation, in a nursing home or in a community setting.

" Don't let anyone fool you, 98 percent of all bedsores or 'decubitus ulcers' as they are called, are preventable."