How Bedsores Can Be Prevented Time and attention are the basic ingredients for preventing bedsores. Both are becoming scarcer with the ever-dwindling number of nurses in the workforce. When a person is bedridden, the main thing to do for prevention is to reposition the patient from side to back to the other side every two hours. There are no exceptions, and there should be zero tolerance for failure. The hospital must supply forms for the nurses to document the length of time that the client spends in each position. There are varieties of designs, but I shall give you one for illustration here.