Bedridden Elderly Care Tips Explained

1. Prevent foot drop. It is very easy to form in people with lower limb paralysis. The foot should be given support, such as using a footplate support, pillows and other things, so that the foot and the leg at right angles, and keep the dorsiflexion position, in order to prevent contracture of the Achilles tendon. When keeping warm in winter, the pressure of the quilt on the foot should be noted, and the quilt can be supported by a brace or a clean cardboard box to avoid pressure on the dorsum of the foot, and the elderly should be instructed and helped to exercise their ankle joints to avoid muscle atrophy and joint stiffness. Prevention of knee deformity: Putting cushions under the knee joints can prevent knee swelling and overstretching of the joints (knee counterstretching), and the time should not be too long. Several times a day to prevent knee flexion contracture.

2, oral care and prevention of respiratory infections. Bed-ridden elderly weak, immunity, resistance is reduced, the respiratory tract and lungs of the defence capacity is reduced or reduced, easy to inhalation, fall lung pneumonia. Long-term bed-ridden chronic elderly, the oral cavity is more than normal bacteria carriers, the oral cavity of conditional pathogenic bacteria carrying rate is also higher than normal. The oral cavity is one of the pathways for pathogenic microorganisms to invade the organism, and inhalation of oral and pharyngeal bacteria is the main way to produce bacterial pneumonia. In oral care, it is important to note the relationship between brushing and gargling, and for the bedridden elderly, sometimes gargling appears to be more important than brushing. Therefore, bedridden elderly people are required to rinse their mouths after meals. For patients who are seriously ill or have difficulty in swallowing (stroke, cerebral palsy), etc., and those who are unable to rinse their mouths due to illness or other reasons, the caregivers are required to follow the doctor's instructions to do oral care for the elderly 2-3 times a day, so as to thoroughly remove the bacteria in the oral cavity.

3、Prevention and care of lung infection. Keep the environment of the room clean, open the window for 30min in the morning and evening every day to ventilate the room, the indoor temperature should be kept at 22～24℃, the humidity should be 50%～60%, and the ultraviolet lamp should be disinfected once a day for 30 minutes each time. Long-term bedridden elderly, respiratory secretions are not easy to cough up, therefore, the elderly should be encouraged to do deep breathing and effective coughing up sputum, knocking back to promote sputum discharge every time you turn over, knocking back when the hand was back to the palm of the hollow, from the bottom of the lungs to the direction of the trachea and gradually knocking, from the bottom to the top, from the outside to the inside, more than 10 times each time.

4, skin care to prevent pressure sores. For long-term bed-ridden elderly use air mattress beds, so that the pressure parts of the air and blood run smoothly, but still need to turn over regularly. Turn over every 2 hours during the day, not more than 3 hours at night to turn over once, regular turning over the elderly we made a turning record card, time, position, skin conditions recorded in a timely manner to ensure that the implementation of the plan. Because of the poor skin elasticity of the elderly, especially long-term disease consumption, patient wasting, subcutaneous fat, muscle atrophy, turn over should be particularly careful, it is appropriate for two people to co-operate, the action is gentle, accurate, to avoid dragging, pulling, pushing, to reduce the friction of the skin, and at the same time, should keep the bed clean, smooth, no debris, to avoid friction of the skin and debris and folds of the bed sheet. Turn over before the back should be patted, asked to cough, and then let the elderly drink warm boiled water 1-2 mouth, turn over again should check the pressure of the bone protrusion, in order to understand the skin condition in time.

5、Prevent the occurrence of lower extremity venous thrombosis. When lying in bed, the affected limbs should be elevated above the level of the heart, in order to reduce the oedema of the affected limbs, the elderly should correctly understand the disease, maintain an optimistic mood, and positively face the treatment of the disease, in addition to the family members should often communicate with the elderly, so as to eliminate the sense of tension, and positively face the treatment.