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Practical Issues in Wound, Skin and Ostomy Management
By Jeri Lundgren, BSN, RN, PHN, CWS, CWCN
We’ve all experienced how a bad night’s sleep can affect our mood and ability to function the next day. Now imagine you’re a patient who has a pressure ulcer, most likely secondary to a declining disease state, and you’re being awakened and manipulated every 2 hours or in some cases hourly. How is your body supposed to recover without adequate sleep? (more…)
Read MoreDonna Sardina, RN, MHA, WCC, CWCMS, DWC, OMS
Have you ever faced responsibility for a patient-care situation you learned about in school but had yet to encounter in the real world? With so many different health conditions and constant advancements in medical care, it’s not surprising that this happens frequently to many clinicians.
The first and easiest way for most of us to handle this situation is to ask our coworkers what to do. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we as clinicians should reach a little further and get corroboration of what coworkers tell us. What we learn on the job may sound—and even seem—credible but it also needs validity so it can stand up in a legal situation. Recently, I was teaching a class to clinicians on ostomy care when one student shrieked, “Our entire hospital system has been doing this wrong for years.” (more…)
Read MoreBy Jennifer Oakley, BS, RN, WCC, DWC, OMS
I used to think I could do it alone. I took the wound care certification course, passed the certification exam, and took all of my new knowledge—and my new WCC credential—back to the long-term care facility where I worked. I was ready to change the world.
It didn’t take me long to figure out that I couldn’t change the complex world of wound care alone. I needed a team of specialists who could manage my patient’s troubles with nutrition, swallowing, activities of daily living, positioning, body image issues, and many other areas that required expertise I didn’t have. (more…)
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