Early signs of bed sores will include red and irritated skin. Once identified, these residents need to be positioned to keep pressure from being placed on that area of the skin until the normal colour returns. Failure to properly identify bed sores in a nursing home could result in the development of large open, bleeding and oozing wounds which could lead to a life-threatening infection.

Bedsores or pressure sores develop overtime and are usually placed into categories according to the severity of the damage. The bed sore stages can range from mild redness to destruction of the bone and muscle tissue.

• Stage I Bedsore: Surface of the skin is red and irritated


• Stage II Bedsore: Blisters or shallow craters form where the outer layer of skin dies


• Stage III Bedsore: Sores have entered the deeper layers of skin and often appear as a large open, bleeding and oozing wound


• Stage IV Bedsore: The most severe stage, where the sores have penetrated all layers of the skin, exposing muscle or bone