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Practical Issues in Wound, Skin and Ostomy Management
By Donna Sardina, RN, MHA, WCC, CWCMS, DWC, OMS Editor-in-Chief
During a recent wound care presentation, an audience member jumped up to contradict the speaker. “That is incorrect,” she asserted. “The rules state….” When someone asked her what rules she was referring to, she replied, “The government’s rules.”
On the surface, that might seem like a straightforward answer. But when you stop to think about it, what government did she mean? Federal? State? Local? (more…)
Read MoreBy 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…)
Read MoreBy Jeri Lundgren, BSN, RN, PHN, CWS, CWCN
The challenge of preventing pressure ulcers is won through our frontline staff—the patient’s caregivers. Caregivers deliver most of the pressure ulcer preventive interventions, such as turning and repositioning, floating the heels, and managing incontinence. That’s why it’s imperative to communicate the patient’s plan of care directly to the caregivers. (more…)
Read MoreBy Kathleen D. Schaum, MS
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…)
Read MoreBy Catherine E. Chung, PhD, RN, CNE, WCC
As a wound care clinician, you teach patients about medications, wound treatments, the plan of care, symptoms of complications, wound physiology—you teach a lot. And most patients probably smile and nod when you ask, “Do you understand?” However, health literacy research has shown that only 12% of the U.S. population is fluent in the language of health care. As health care has become increasingly complex, it has become increasingly difficult for patients to understand. Fortunately for your patient, you can translate. (more…)
Read MoreAccording 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…)
Read MoreBy 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 the rewards of a more confident staff as well as improved patient outcomes. (more…)
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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. This article discusses a free tool I developed to help SNFs track their data related to pressure ulcers and focus their quality improvement efforts for the greatest impact. (more…)
Read MoreBy: 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. I have to go to Bingo!”?
As clinicians, our first instinct usually is paternalistic, as if we’re the patient’s parent who knows what’s best for our child. We think, “Sorry, but you have to do this. It’s for your own good.” And we convey that idea to the patient. (more…)
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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 be a useful tool in wound care. But setting up any new program can meet resistance—and if you seek to establish a maggot therapy program, expect to meet significant resistance. By arming yourself in advance, you can achieve your goal more easily. This article covers all the bases to help you get your maggot therapy program off the ground. (more…)
Read MoreBy 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…)
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