Tips to avoid rubbing and dragging the skin
The types of things you can do to help residents avoid rubbing and dragging are based on the resident’s mobility. This information will help you to:
- ensure good positioning
- implement a regular positioning schedule
- promote suitable activity (for example, suggest residents regularly move their feet or take a stroll)
- use correct lifting and transferring techniques and equipment.
Regularly observing how residents move can help identify potential risks. For example, a resident may always use their heel to push themselves up in a bed.
Are you aware of the various ways residents should be positioned in order to ensure they are protected against dragging or rubbing?
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To avoid rubbing and dragging on the skin:
- Lift residents correctly without dragging.
- Avoid drag on skin during bed to chair transfers.
- When residents are sitting up in bed, keep the raised area below 30 degrees, or use a cushion or wedge under the knees to prevent them from sliding down.
- Use turn sheets to reduce friction when assisting the resident to reposition in bed.
- When residents are sitting in a chair, make sure they sit well back in the chair with their knees level to their hips.
- Show residents how to push themselves up in the chair, by lifting their body using the chair arms.
- Show residents how to move back in the chair, by leaning over and lifting one buttock at a time.
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