Burns In Nursing Homes
The National Fire Center, reports an annual average of 2 million fires in the United States. Those fires resulted in an annual average in excess of 27,000 civilian injuries, more than 4,000 deaths.
Nursing home residents may sustain burns while at a nursing home facility. Common situations involving residents sustaining burns include:
- Baths- Staff failing to monitor the water temperature
- Smoking- Smoking especially around oxygen tanks can be disastrous
- Lighters- Senile patients playing with lighters
- Fires in the nursing home. Often nursing homes do not have proper alarms or fire-sprinklers
- Electric blankets- Staff failing to monitor patients who may not be able to detect temperature
Nursing home residents who sustain burns need focused care from experts to implement a plan to deal with the physical and psychological affects. Burns sustained by the elderly are especially difficult to treat and are commonly accompanied by infection and bedsores.
Comments (2)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endkeate weaver - April 18, 2010 9:13 PM
My Mom was alllowed to have cigarretts and lighters in her room at her asisted living. She has moderate alzheimers...........naturally she lite one in the room and started a fire in her bedding.........The trauma of the event caused her to totally lose her mind afterward.
Aren't there regulations regarding this...........
Jonathan Rosenfeld - April 19, 2010 8:19 AM
Keate-
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities must run a fine line with respect to patient smoking at their facilities. One one hand, they must allow patients to smoke.
In addition, facilities must create and implement a smoking policy that protect both the individual smoker and the other patients at the facility. This usually means a designated smoking area and staff supervision.
In your mother's case, it sounds as though the facility was negligent with respect to allowing your mother to smoke in her room and failing to secure smoking materials such as matches and cigarette lighters.
Certainly, this sounds like a situation that should have been prevented.