Putting the pressure on about pressure ulcers...

Hello everyone,
Kind of a long story, but I'll try my best to get the good point across!
So I was still with the transplant dietitian yesterday and today, and we went and saw a patient yesterday right before his wound change. He has had 2 liver transplants in the last year (he had a rejection to the first) and has had some complications, so he is still in the step-down ICU unit. unfortunately, the dietitian calls it the "step back" unit because many end up with pressure ulcers and in poor conditions, such as in his case. She wanted to take a look at the sacral ulcer, and it was awful. It was a stage IV ulcer that was tunneling pretty deep. So she walked out of there angry that that had happened to him in the hospital, and determined to do something.
This morning in the liver transplant team meeting, after the clinicians all gave their 2 cents on the patients up for discussion regarding transplantation, and after going through the list and everyone's MELD score, etc. we talked about all the post-transplant patients in-house. When this man came up, the dietitian shared the seriousness of the pressure ulcer and the doctors honestly blew her off and said "what are we going to do. make him sleep on his stomach?" so then she was really mad. So she approached a doctor after the meeting and said "what are our goals with this man?" meaning "are we just waiting for this pressure ulcer to kill him?" and the doctor seemed frustrated and expressed that they were doing everything they could and it was up to PT to get him out of bed.
Well anyways, this afternoon when we were eating lunch, the doctor poked his head in the room and told us that he and his PA and his nurse went into the man's room, took him out of his bed, and sat him up in a chair and left him there. He was so proud to tell the dietitian that he HAD done something about the situation.
Moral of the story- If it wasn't for the transplant dietitian, no one would have taken his situation seriously, but because she was adamant and kept bugging, something is being done. She knows she cant give him any more protein and shes doing all she can to heal that wound, but its up to the team to be on her side in being aggressive in healing that wound. I was really proud today, and I hope that we all seek that kind of care for all of our patients!

Elizabeth