Apply These 5 Tricks While Taking Care of a Bedridden Person
There may be unfortunate instances where a person may be advised to take complete bed rest to heal. Whereas, in other situations, a person may gradually lose their ability to move. Being confined to bed is not at all satisfying and can cause further both mental and physical ailments. Even it becomes challenging for the caregiver to coordinate with the patient’s needs. Hence keeping the challenges in mind, here are a few tips that can help you in the long run.
5 Essential Tips for Taking Care of a Bedridden Person
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Maintain Good Hygiene
The first thing to focus on while taking care of a bedridden person is to maintain good hygiene. From ensuring that they wear neat clothes to making sure they get to brush their teeth twice a day – everything is important.
Apart from this, you must focus on grooming their hair and clipping their nails to prevent the patient from scratching their skin too hard. Make sure to wear vinyl gloves as you carry out these tasks to keep both yourself and the patient safe.
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Prevent Bedsores
One of the major risks that bedridden patients encounter is bedsores. This usually occurs when the underlying tissue is damaged by prolonged sitting or sleeping in one posture. In worst cases, the sores can cause serious infection causing the person a shorter lifespan. Hence, a few precautions that you must keep in mind are
- Make sure that the patient keeps changing positions
- If any sores are visible, make sure to clean them wearing general-use gloves.
- Make sure to keep them dry
- Consult with the doctor right away.
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Change Diapers
When caring for any bedridden person, it is obvious that you may have to change their diapers. It is one of the most typical duties which you need to fulfil every day.
Therefore, when changing diapers, you must keep yourself entirely protected by wearing masks or vinyl gloves. Also, keep in mind to apply rash cream and use moistened wipes before putting on a fresh diaper.
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Avoid Falls
Bedridden people face extreme levels of mental health problems including lowered self-esteem. It wants them to get their normal life back and not accept their current situation.
Hence, they may try to carry out some tasks on their own which can lead to accidents. Therefore, to avoid falls you can use bed rails and other assistive devices like walkers.
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Be Supportive
As bedridden life could be hard, the best thing you can do to heal the patient is to be supportive towards them. In such times, a patient might feel low and develop mental health problems like depression.
When you as a caretaker show them that there is still hope or that things can get better – it gives them a sense of relief. Or simply you can show your affection letting them know that nothing can change how you feel for them. This will help them in the healing process.
Give Proper Care to the Elderly Using the Right Tools
Taking care of a bedridden person is far more difficult than one can imagine. From ensuring their physical well-being to their mental – everything must be considered. Hence, with the right tools you can make your tasks easier. We at Medguard have everything available at our store to fulfil your needs.
Be it needing incontinence care items, general use gloves, thermometers, bed rails, grab bars, and others – our UK leading store has a stock of all types of medical supplies. You can get your hands on any of the products at cheap rates and get them delivered timely to your doorstep.