“Sick patients require constant care. The risks of fatigue and burnout mandate that one person cannot and should not do it all. To enable the best outcomes and the most sophisticated management, a reliable system of care is needed," asserts Dr. Bruce Gewertz, MD. Department of Surgery Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. Dr. Greg Vigna, [...]
“I was the medical director of a Long-Term Acute Care Hospital (LTAC), a licensure that provides a path to payment for the management of flaps and other reconstructive surgeries for patients with serious bedsores. Gaylord Specialty Hospital should be in the business of fixing serious bedsores, and not part of the national epidemic of hospital-acquired [...]
“Unstageable pressure wound, decubitus ulcer, also referred to as a bedsore is a ‘Never Event’ according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This means that the care rendered at bedside at this hospital is broken. If care at bedside is broken, the hospital is likely broken, as care at bedside is the [...]
“As a practicing rehabilitation physician in skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation hospitals, I would provide orientation to new physical therapists and nurses to prevent pressure injuries to the heel. I would order arterial studies for patients admitted with heel sores, and proceed from there," states Greg Vigna, MD, JD, national malpractice attorney and wound care expert. [...]
“Appropriate patient selection, debridement, and reconstruction with appropriate postoperative rehabilitation can be very beneficial in elderly patients," states Fatih Irmak, MD, Department of Plastic Surgery, Istanbul, Turkey. What else did Dr. Irmak report in “Management and Treatment of Pressure Ulcers: Clinical Experience,” published in The Medical Bulletin of Sisli Etfal Hospital 2019; 53(1): 37-41?: “Although [...]
“Inappropriate transfers (to Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals (LTACHs) most commonly were for wound care (28%), intravenous medication infusions (28%)” says Ross C. Schumacher, MD. Greg Vigna, MD, JD, national decubitus ulcer attorney, retired Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician states, “I doubt Dr. Schumacher is saying that the two or three hundred patients we admitted with [...]
“Conservative management is ineffective for stage III or IV pressure sores, and plastic surgery to create flap coverage of the sore becomes inevitable” states Chun-Yu Chen, MD, plastic surgeon. What else did Dr. Chen report in “Surgical Treatment and Strategy in Patients with Pressure Sores” published in Medicine (Baltimore) 2020 Oct 30, 99(44): 223022? “The [...]
“When deep decubitus wounds are not repaired in a timely manner, patients are at higher risk of developing sepsis, which is life-threatening. The mortality rate of decubitus wounds combined with sepsis is as high as 50%,” states Dr. Zhiyi Wei, MD. Department of Burn ICU, Quanzhou First Hospital, China. What else did Dr. Wei report [...]
“Hospitalized patients with decubitus ulcer-related osteomyelitis who did not undergo surgical reconstruction or coverage … 44% patients were readmitted due to complications from osteomyelitis, and 17% died” states Laura Damioli, MD. Therapeutic Advance in Infectious Disease. Volume 10, pg. 1-9. 2023. What did Dr. Damioli's study say? 1) “We describe treatments and outcomes of hospitalized [...]
“These stage IV heel pressure ulcers represent a major health and economic burden and can be difficult to treat” … David C. Bosanquet, MD, Consultant Vascular Surgeon at NHS. Dr. Greg Vigna, wound care expert and national decubitus ulcer attorney states, “Stage IV Heel bedsores sores have the worst prognosis and lead to lower limb [...]