Wound patient’s bill of rights

The Association for Advancement of Wound Care has developed the “Wound Care Patient’s Bill of Rights.” The 10 points include the right to:

• know what wound treatment options are available to you

• know the benefits, risks, and side effects of your wound care treatments

• participate in the development of your treatment plan with your wound care team

• have your pain adequately controlled.

The bill of rights is available in both English and Spanish.

Infection prevention brochure

“Win the Battle Against Infection,” from the Association for Advancement of Wound Care, is an ideal tool for enlisting patients in the effort to prevent infection. The bro – chure, which can be downloaded as a PDF at no charge, answers questions such as:

• What is a wound infection?

• What does a wound infection look and feel like?

• Is my wound infected?

The brochure also provides:

• strategies for preventing infection. Handwashing is well covered, with step-by-step instructions.

• instructions on when to contact the healthcare provider, for example, “if you have uncontrolled bleeding from your wound.”

Healthy feet

The Canadian Association of Wound Care devotes a section of its website to “Diabetes, healthy feet, and you.”

One particularly valuable section is “Your personal foot care plan,” which includes two forms that can be downloaded:

• Steps for healthy feet checklist

• Your personal plan for change.

Patients who access the information online can follow easy instructions to enlarge the text—helpful for those with impaired vision.

Preventing falls at home

Clinicians who work with older patients in the home setting may want to pass along resources to prevent falls from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These include:

• “What you can do to prevent falls,” available in English, Spanish, and Chinese

• “Check for safety,” which patients can use to identify and eliminate fall hazards in their home.