Buzz Report: Latest trends, Part 1

January 28, 2016February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

We all lead busy lives, with demanding work schedules and home responsibilities that can thwart our best intentions. Although we know it’s our responsibility to stay abreast of changes in our field, we may feel overwhelmed when we try to make that happen.

Keeping clinicians up-to-date on clinical knowledge is one of the main goals of the Wild On Wounds (WOW) conference, held each September in Las Vegas. Each year, I present the opening session of this conference, called “The Buzz Report,” which focuses on the latest-breaking wound care news—what’s new, what’s now, what’s coming up. I discuss innovative new products, practice guidelines, resources, and tools from the last 12 months in skin, wound, and ostomy management. This article highlights the hottest topics from my 2015 Buzz Report. (more…)

Case study: Working under a time crunch in a short-stay facility

July 27, 2015February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

By Janet Wolfson, PT, CWS, CLT-LANA

After landing my dream job as the wound care coordinator at an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF), I found myself trying to determine how much healing could be achieved for our more challenging patients, given the constraints of reimbursement and what can be done in the typical 10 to 14 days of a patient stay.

Here’s an example of how I worked with our team to help one of these challenging patients. (more…)

From the Editor: Tips on staging pressure ulcers

July 27, 2015February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

By Donna Sardina, RN, MHA, WCC, CWCMS, DWC, OMS

Pressure ulcers have been a health concern for a long time—since at least 5,000 years ago, when evidence of a pressure ulcer was found on an ancient Egyptian mummy. But not until 1975 did the staging classification system we’re familiar with begin. This system was designed to make things easier by creating a universal way to describe and communicate the various levels of tissue destruction. (more…)

More from The Buzz Report: A wound care clinician’s best friend

April 6, 2015February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

By Donna Sardina, RN, MHA, WCC, CWCMS, DWC, OMS

Keeping clinicians up to date on clinical knowledge is one of the main goals of the Wild On Wounds (WOW) conference,held each September in Las Vegas. Each year, I present the opening session of this conference, called “The Buzz Report,”which focuses on the latest-breaking wound care news—what’s new, what’s now, and what’s coming up. I discuss innovative new products, practice guidelines, resources, and tools from the last 12 months in skin, wound, and ostomy management. (more…)

Using maggots in wound care: Part 1

July 21, 2014February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

By: Ronald A. Sherman, MD; Sharon Mendez, RN, CWS; and Catherine McMillan, BA

Maggot therapy is the controlled, therapeutic application of maggots to a wound. Simple to use, it provides rapid, precise, safe, and powerful debridement. Many wound care professionals don’t provide maggot therapy (also called wound myiasis) because they lack training. But having maggot therapy technology available for patients adds to your capabilities as a wound care provider. (more…)

Clinical Notes: Pressure Injury Prevention, Diabetes, LIV

May 22, 2014February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

Incidence density best measure of pressure-ulcer prevention program

According to the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP), incidence density is the best quality measure of pressure-ulcer prevention programs. Pressure-ulcer incidence density is calculated by dividing the number of inpatients who develop a new pressure ulcer by 1,000 patient days. Using the larger denominator of patient days allows fair comparisons between institutions of all sizes. (more…)

When and how to culture a chronic wound

January 30, 2014February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

By Marcia Spear, DNP, ACNP-BC, CWS, CPSN

Chronic wound infections are a significant healthcare burden, contributing to increased morbidity and mortality, prolonged hospitalization, limb loss, and higher medical costs. What’s more, they pose a potential sepsis risk for patients. For wound care providers, the goal is to eliminate the infection before these consequences arise.

Most chronic wounds are colonized by polymicrobial aerobic-anaerobic microflora. However, practitioners continue to debate whether wound cultures are relevant. Typically, chronic wounds aren’t cultured unless the patient has signs and symptoms of infection, which vary depending on whether the wound is acute or chronic. (See Differentiating acute and chronic wounds.) (more…)

What you need to know about hydrogel dressings

November 21, 2013February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

By Nancy Morgan, RN, BSN, MBA, WOC, WCC, DWC, OMS

Each issue, Apple Bites brings you a tool you can apply in your daily practice.

Description

Hydrated polymer (hydrogel) dressings, originally developed in the 1950s, contain 90% water in a gel base, which helps regulate fluid exchange from the wound surface. Hydrogel dressing are usually clear or translucent and vary in viscosity or thickness. They’re available in three forms: (more…)

What you need to know about collagen wound dressings

September 25, 2013January 16, 2024 Wound Care Advisor

By Nancy Morgan, RN, BSN, MBA, WOC, WCC, DWC, OMS

Description

Collagen, the protein that gives the skin its tensile strength, plays a key role
in each phase of wound healing. It attracts cells, such as fibroblasts and keratinocytes, to the wound, which encourages debridement, angiogenesis, and reepithelialization. In addition, collagen provides a natural scaffold or substrate for new tissue growth. (more…)

Improving outcomes with noncontact low-frequency ultrasound

September 25, 2013February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

By Ronnel Alumia, BSN, RN, WCC, CWCN, OMS

Achieving excellent wound care outcomes can be challenging, given the growing number of high-risk patients admitted to healthcare facilities today. Many of these patients have comorbidities, such as obesity, diabetes, renal disease, smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and poor nutritional status. These conditions reduce wound-healing ability. (more…)

What you need to know about hydrocolloid dressings

May 28, 2013January 15, 2024 Wound Care Advisor

By Nancy Morgan, RN, BSN, MBA, WOC, WCC, DWC, OMS

Each month, Apple Bites brings you a tool you can apply in your daily practice.

Description

A hydrocolloid dressing is a wafer type of dressing that contains gel-forming agents in an adhesive compound laminated onto a flexible, water-resistant outer layer. Some formulations contain an alginate to increase absorption capabilities. The wafers are self-adhering and available with or without an adhesive border and in various thicknesses and precut shapes for such body areas as the sacrum, elbows, and heels. Click here to see examples of
hydrocolloid dressings.

(more…)

Debridement options: BEAMS made easy

March 25, 2013February 25, 2020 Wound Care Advisor

By Cindy Broadus, RN, BSHA, LNHA, CHCRM, CLNC, CLNI, WCC, DWC, OMS

At one time or another, all wound care professionals encounter a chronic wound, defined as a wound that fails to heal in an orderly and timely manner. Globally, about 67 million people (1% to 5% of the world’s population) suffer chronic wounds. In the United States, chronic wounds affect 6.5 million people and cost more than $25 billion annually to treat. (more…)

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