Suppose you’re reading an article on a new product that states the product has been through a series of clinical trials before marketing. What does this mean? Who was involved? As a clinician, could you initiate or be involved in a clinical trial of a new product? Who are clinical trial subjects, and what’s it like for them to be involved in a clinical study?
A clinical trial starts as an idea. As clinicians, we often use our critical-thinking skills to imagine a product or method of practice we think could be created or improved on to better meet our patients’ needs. The idea begins to grow and a series of events begins. (more…)
Qualified healthcare professionals (QHPs), such as physicians, podiatrists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists, are taught to diagnose the reasons that chronic wounds aren’t healing and to create plans of care for aggressively managing the wound until it heals. Wound care professionals—nurses and therapists—are taught to implement those plans of care. All of these highly skilled wound care professionals know how to manage chronic wounds from identification through healing. (more…)
This issue, we highlight some resources from “The Buzz Report,” the popular presentation given by editor-in-chief Donna Sardina, RN, MHA, WCC, CWCMS, DWC, OMS, at the Wild On Wounds (WOW) conference, held each September in Las Vegas. (more…)
According to a study published in Diabetes Care, the economic burden associated with diagnosed diabetes (all ages) and undiagnosed diabetes, gestational diabetes, and prediabetes (adults) exceeded $322 billion in 2012, amounting to an economic burden exceeding $1,000 for each American. (more…)
The World Health Organization defines palliative care as “an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.” (more…)
Radiation therapy doesn’t increase the incidence of lymphedema in patients with node-negative breast cancer, according to research presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 56th Annual Meeting held this fall. (more…)
By Hedy Badolato, RD, CSR, CNSC; Denise Dacey, RD, CDE; Kim Stevens, BSN, RN, CCRN; Jen Fox, BSN, RN, CCRN; Connie Johnson, MSN, RN, WCC, LLE, OMS, DAPWCA; Hatim Youssef, DO, FCCP; and Scott Sinner, MD, FACP
Despite the healthcare team’s best efforts, not all hospitalizations go smoothly. This article describes the case of an obese patient who underwent bariatric surgery. After a 62-day hospital stay, during which a multidisciplinary team collaborated to deliver the best care possible, he died. Although the outcome certainly wasn’t what we wanted, we’d like to share his story to raise awareness of the challenges of caring for bariatric patients. (more…)
Despite the healthcare team’s best efforts, not all hospitalizations go smoothly. This article describes the case of an obese patient who underwent bariatric surgery. After a 62-day hospital stay, during which a multidisciplinary team collaborated to deliver the best care possible, he died. Although the outcome certainly wasn’t what we wanted, we’d like to share his story to raise awareness of the challenges of caring for bariatric patients.
By David L. Johnson, NHA, RAC-CT As a senior quality improvement specialist with IPRO, the Quality Improvement Organization for New York State over the past 11 years, I’ve been tasked with helping skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) embrace the process of continuous quality improvement. A necessary component of this effort has been to collect, understand, and analyze timely and accurate data.…
By Jeri Lundgren, BSN, RN, PHN, CWS, CWCN As a wound care nurse, do you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders when trying to implement a pressure ulcer prevention program? Many staff members think it’s up to the wound care nurse alone to implement the program. However, a successful program requires involvement from all staff and is…
By Hedy Badolato, RD, CSR, CNSC; Denise Dacey, RD, CDE; Kim Stevens, BSN, RN, CCRN; Jen Fox, BSN, RN, CCRN; Connie Johnson, MSN, RN, WCC, LLE, OMS, DAPWCA; Hatim Youssef, DO, FCCP; and Scott Sinner, MD, FACP Despite the healthcare team’s best efforts, not all hospitalizations go smoothly. This article describes the case of an obese patient who underwent bariatric…
Radiation and lymphedema Radiation therapy doesn’t increase the incidence of lymphedema in patients with node-negative breast cancer, according to research presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 56th Annual Meeting held this fall.
Here is a list of valuable ostomy resources, some suggested by our colleagues who follow Wound Care Advisor on Twitter. United Ostomy Association of America The United Ostomy Association of America provides comprehensive resources for patients, including information about the types of ostomies and issues related to nutrition, sexuality, and travel. Much of the information is also available in Spanish…
By Stanley A. Rynkiewicz III, MSN, RN, WCC, DWC, CCS Developing a successful wound care program requires a strong commitment and a willingness to learn. Our experience with creating such a program at Deer Meadows Home Health and Support Services, LLC (DMHHSS), a nonprofit home-care facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, may help others build a similar wound care program and reap…
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. Measurement of wounds is an important component of wound assessment and provides baseline measurements, enables monitoring of healing rates, and helps distinguish among wounds that are static, deteriorating, or improving. All alterations in skin integrity,…
By Joy Hooper, BSN, RN, CWOCN, OMS Have you ever had an idea for improving patient care that you wanted to market? You may have lacked confidence or know-how, as I once did. But one patient, a crafty idea, and a trip to Walmart put me on the path to becoming a successful nurse entrepreneur.
By Ronald A. Sherman, MD; Sharon Mendez, RN, CWS; and Catherine McMillan, BA Note From the Editor: This is the second of two articles on maggot therapy. The first article appeared in our July/August 2014 issue, Read part 1 here. Whether your practice is an acute-care setting, a clinic, home care, or elsewhere, maggot debridement therapy (MDT) can prove to…
By Laura L. Barry, MBA, MMsc, and Maureen Sirois, MSN, RN, CEN, ANP Why is it that some things don’t bother us, while other things catapult us from an emotional 0 to 60 mph in a heartbeat? We all know what it feels like when someone says or does something that gets our juices flowing. We feel it in our…
By: Donna Sardina, RN, MHA, WCC, CWCMS, DWC, OMS Have you ever had a patient yell “Get out of my room!” or “Don’t touch me! I don’t want to be turned”? How about “No! Don’t put those compression stockings on my legs!” or “No, I’m not going to wear those ugly orthopedic shoes!” or “No way. I can’t stay in bed.…
Here are a variety of resources you might want to explore.
Considering opioid-prescribing practices
Healthcare providers’ prescribing patterns for opioids vary considerably by state, according to a report in Vital Signs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Here are some facts from the report:
• Each day, 46 people die from an overdose of prescription painkillers in the United States.*
• Healthcare providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers in 2012, enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills.
• Ten of the highest prescribing states for painkillers are in the South. (more…)
A study in the Journal of Experimental Medicine describes how aspirin inhibits wound healing and paves the way for the development of new drugs to promote healing.
Changes in healthcare policy and reimbursement are pushing treatment from the hospital to the community. This shift is likely to result in a higher number of complex wounds being treated in the home, which can create stress for patients and families. Education plays a key role in reducing this stress. This article focuses on education for family members or friends who are caregivers for the patient. (more…)
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…)
