‘Wound Wednesdays’ are maintaining healthy skin integrity at Westmount Gardens

Educational program credited to decreasing home-acquired pressure ulcers
2/10/2016  - Deron Hamel
 

One year after its launch, a wound-care educational program at Westmount Gardens has resulted in the elimination of home-acquired wounds and increased staff knowledge surrounding skin care at the London, Ont., long-term care home.

Wound Wednesdays were launched in early 2015 after the home noticed inconsistency in wound measurement, a high number of home-acquired pressure ulcers, issues obtaining appropriate wound-care supplies and requests for more skin-health education, says Mary-Kathy Kaufman, Westmount Gardens’ resident quality care co-ordinator.

Westmount Gardens had residents with eight home-acquired pressure ulcers in February 2015, all of which were carried over from 2014. One year later, there are five pressure ulcers among residents, none of which were acquired in the home.

In its maiden year, the program saw the development of a new skin-care system, education around new pressure offloading devices and more knowledge sharing around wound-related pain assessment, she adds.

The decrease in the number of home-acquired pressure ulcers is perhaps the initiative’s greatest accomplishment, Kaufman says, adding: “Those residents admitted with serious ulcers are either healed or healing.

“The ownership all staff members have taken to improve and prevent wounds has been inspiring and the PSWs (personal support workers) are the ones maintaining the momentum of the program.”

The team uses one Wound Wednesday per month as a time to educate nursing staff and students about treating open wounds – with residents’ consent.

Wednesdays are an ideal time to do skin education because the home’s physician is on site for consultations, Kaufman notes, and it’s also the day for wound assessments.

As part of the program, residents and their families are given updates on wounds. Some family members come to the home to attend the weekly assessments and pamphlets are available to residents and their loved ones to help them understand the nature of wounds and how they can be prevented and treated.

“Also on Wednesdays we strive to do short snippets of education around wound-related topics, usually at bedside,” Kaufman says. “This opens understanding around issues for the residents’ healing process (in areas such as) nutrition, positioning, quality of life related to wound care, preventative skin care (and) education needs.”

Kaufman notes that the goals of Wound Wednesdays for 2016 are to improve documentation around wounds, continue the culture of learning and enhance wound and skin-tear prevention.

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