New Jersey’s Wound Care Certification

March 11th, 2010
New Jersey's Wound Care Certification

The New Jersey Wound Care Certification Initiative was developed with the intent of significantly reducing the incidence and severity of pressure ulcers among patients and residents in New Jersey’s hospitals (including IRFs and LTCHs), nursing homes, assisted living facilities, as well as clients of New Jersey’s home health agencies.  The goal of this program is to increase specialized wound care education, skills and certification of nursing staff and to dramatically expand the number of New Jersey nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities and home health agencies that utilize wound care certified professionals in prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers.

A week-long wound care training course with wound care certification examination will be offered at four different locations in the state of New Jersey.

  • St. Barnabas Behavioral Health-Toms River-Southeast, 1691 US Highway Route 9 – CN 2025, Toms River, NJ 08754
  • St. Barnabas Ambulatory Care Center – Livingston – North, 200 South Orange Ave, Livingston, NJ 07039
  • Barry Brown Center – Virtua – Southwest, 106 Carnie Blvd., Voorhees,NJ 08043
  • NJHA-Central, 760 Alexander Road, Princeton, NJ 08543


The course will be given by the Wound Care Education Institute and Wound Care Certification exam and credentials will be offered by the National Alliance of Wound Care®.

Qualified New Jersey nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities and home health agencies will be given the opportunity to send participants.

The initiative is being sponsored by the National Alliance of Wound Care® (NAWC®) in cooperation with the New Jersey Hospital Association’s Institute for Quality & Patient Safety.

Nursing homes whose nurses complete the course and pass the certification exam will be eligible to have $1,000 of the registration fee returned thanks to the generous support of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services through the nursing home civil monetary penalty fund.


Who can apply?
Licensed New Jersey nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities and home health agencies may submit an application for employees who must meet the following criteria:

  • Applicant is a current employee of the facility submitting the application.
  • The applicant holds an active, unrestricted New Jersey license as Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse.
  • It can be documented that wound care has been a component of the applicant’s job duties for at least 2 years out of the last 5 years.


Only qualified individuals will be allowed to participate in the program.
Qualified applicants who are accepted for participation will be required to attend all four days of the training class, no absences permitted.  Organizations will be responsible for travel and lodging of chosen participants, if necessary.

Instructions

  1. Complete the course application.
  2. Submit application along with $2597.00 course fee to Wound Care Education Institute. Make checks payable to “Wound Care Education Institute” or complete credit card section on the application.
  3. Applicants will receive notification of course acceptance within 2 business days of receiving application. Notifications will be made by phone and/or email.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD APPLICATION

The fund is derived from federal enforcement and is allocated to New Jersey
from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services.  The purpose of the fund is to improve quality in
nursing homes.


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WCEI® is proud to offer you a powerful new partnership with The Norton School of Lymphatic Therapy

February 5th, 2010
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR THE TREATMENT OF LYMPHEDEMA

WCEI® is proud to offer you a powerful new partnership with The Norton School of Lymphatic Therapy. The Norton School is the premier educational institution for training MDs, PTs, PTAs, OTs, COTAs, RNs, and massage therapists to become experts in the treatment of pathologies related to the lymphatic system. Taught by the finest and most experienced faculty in the field, Norton School students receive thorough and rigorous training in the Földi Method of Complete Decongestive Therapy (CDT), the therapeutic system regarded as the “Gold Standard” for the treatment of lymphedema by the International Society of Lymphology (ISL).

Students become qualified to treat lymphedema (both primary and secondary), lipedema, phlebo-lymphostatic edema, chronic venous insufficiencies, and post traumatic edema. Additionally, as graduates fully certified in the treatment of lymphedema, Norton School alumni are eligible to sit for the Lymphology Association of North America (LANA®) Examination® for lymphedema therapists.

To receive $250 Discount towards the full CDT Certification course, use promotional code WC2010 when registering.

Click Here for more information about this exciting opportunity and partnership.

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Pressure Ulcer Etiology

February 2nd, 2010

WCEI Instructor Cindy Broadus RN reviews Pressure Ulcer Etiology with the WCC candidates in a recent class in Philadelphia PA. Below is a little video from a Skin and Wound Management Course in which Pressure Ulcer Etiology is discussed. Cindy demonstrates how if the skin and soft tissue is compressed or squeezed together by weight or tension, the blood vessels collapse and tissue necrosis follows.

YouTube Preview Image

Additionally, the Clinical presentation and characteristics of Pressure Ulcers are discussed in part in this video. Some of the characteristics include:

  • Rounded, crater-like shapes (not always round)
  • regular edges
  • usually develop over a bony prominence (not always over a bone)
  • will take on the shape of the object that caused the pressure

Typical anatomical locations that pressure ulcers are found include: (Top 5)

  • Sacral/Coccyx
  • Greater Trochanter
  • Ischial Tuberosity
  • Heel
  • Lateral Malleolus

The progression of Breakdown is as follows:

  1. Hyperemia
  2. Tissue Ischemia
  3. Tissue Necrosis
  4. Ulceration

For more information on becoming wound care certified or our Skin and Wound Management Course, check out our registration page

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Wound Care Education Institute

February 1st, 2010

Wound Care Education Institute (WCEI) was created to fill a need for wound care education that was not being met.

WCEI founding partners Nancy Morgan and Donna Sardina, both RNs with years of practice, identified many improperly treated wounds in their nursing careers.  They discovered that there was a great need for wound care specialization, but a significant shortage of qualified wound care professionals.  They also noticed a lack of available and accessible wound care education programs.

With their shared passion for healing, Nancy and Donna started a hands-on wound care consulting company.  Finding they couldn’t be everywhere at once, and there was a limit to how many people the two of them could help, they decided that a better approach would be to provide wound care education in order to train as many health care professionals as possible.  That’s how the Wound Care Education Institute – WCEI – was born.

The mission and philosophy of WCEI is to offer these unique attributes unavailable elsewhere in the wound care education market

  • To provide the highest quality wound care education possible, based on the most current standards of practice guidelines and evidence-based research.
  • To openly share knowledge by making WCEI’s training available to any health care professional seeking wound care education, and by not limiting the training to only nurses or those with bachelor’s degrees in nursing.
  • To focus on practical, rather than theoretical knowledge.  WCEI teaches its students what they need to know to impact care at the bedside.
  • To drive knowledge down to the bedside because it is at the bedside that healing care takes place. It is at that level that wound care education is the most effective.
  • To offer ongoing support to students beyond certification and to be an ongoing resource for standards of care in the wound care education field.

Our Skin and Wound Management Course is designed to provide participants with the best practices in wound care, the science behind healing wounds, and the most current standards of practice.  At the end of the course, for those that pursue wound certification the National Alliance of Wound Care® provides the  WCC® exam.

For more information on becoming wound care certified, please visit our registration page

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Man Buried in Haiti Rubble Uses iPhone to Treat Wounds, Survive

January 22nd, 2010
iPhone

iPhone

The tragedy in Haiti has claimed countless lives and effected even more. The effects of this disaster spans the globe and our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and those involved in the earthquake as well as the rescue efforts. The needs for wound care in this situation are evident. I’ve been thinking about this situation throughout the turn of events in terms of how wound care is being delivered on the scene. I came across an interesting story of wound care and technology while reading about the rescue efforts.

This lead me to think about how we are using technology in our day to day practices of wound care. Aside from your wound care knowledge and skills, do you use technology in your clinics, hospitals, and home care? What devices do you use from day to day that have become so essential that its considered second nature to use? For your convenience I have inserted the full story below.

The following is taken from Brian X Chen’s article in Wired.com

U.S. filmmaker Dan Woolley was shooting a video about poverty in Haiti when the earthquake struck. He could have died, but he ultimately survived with the help of an iPhone first-aid app that taught him to treat his wounds.

After being crushed by a pile of rubble, Woolley used his digital SLR to illuminate his surroundings and snap photos of the wreckage in search of a safe place to dwell. He took refuge in an elevator shaft, where he followed instructions from an iPhone first-aid app to fashion a bandage and tourniquet for his leg and to stop the bleeding from his head wound, according to an MSNBC story.

The app even warned Woolley not to fall asleep if he felt he was going into shock, so he set his cellphone’s alarm clock to go off every 20 minutes. Sixty-five hours later, a French rescue team saved him.

“I just saw the walls rippling and just explosive sounds all around me,” said Woolley, recounting the earthquake to MSNBC. “It all happened incredibly fast. David yelled out, ‘It’s an earthquake,’ and we both lunged and everything turned dark.”

Woolley’s incident highlights a large social implication of the iPhone and other similar smartphones. A constant internet connection, coupled with a device supporting a wealth of apps, can potentially transform a person into an all-knowing, always-on being. In Woolley’s case, an iPhone app turned him into an amateur medic to help him survive natural disaster.

Say what you will about the iPhone. This story is incredible.

I found this to be an awesome story of how a simple application on a person’s iPhone actually saved his life. Who knows maybe a WCEI iPhone App is on the way…
For more information about becoming wound care certified, please visit our registration page.

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A Special Message to All WCC®s Regarding the Earthquake in Haiti

January 20th, 2010

NAWC

Our good friends at the National Alliance of Wound Care shared this message today to the WCC community. We wanted to recognize their message here on WCEI’s blog. In case you missed the message, here it is below:

A Special Message to All WCC®s Regarding the Earthquake in Haiti



The devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti last week and the 6.1 aftershock this week are proving to be one of the worst natural disasters of our lifetime. The world is quickly responding to the calls for help and the United States is leading that effort with military and private assistance. Individuals and organizations have donated humanitarian services and money to aid in this mission of recovery and rebuilding. Even though these efforts provide some relief to the immediate situation, much more help will be required in this long-fought battle.

The National Alliance of Wound Care® (NAWC®) knows that each WCC has a passion for helping people and we all feel the need to participate in this world-wide effort. The National Alliance of Wound Care has made a cash donation to the American Red Cross. In addition, as a vehicle to help spread the news of individual relief efforts, the NAWC will provide a dedicated section of our website to post stories from WCCs about their efforts to assist in Haiti. Please send your individual stories to: information@nawccb.org.

Below, we are providing the following links to assist you with donating to the relief efforts and to inquire about individual Americans in Haiti.

1) American Red Cross, 1-800-REDCROSS 1-800-733-2767or go online to: www.redcross.org/

a. You can also text“HAITI”to90999to donate$10to American Red Crossrelief for Haiti. The charge will show up on your next cell phone bill.

2) United Way, 1-866-404-5826or go online to: www.unitedway.org/worldwide/

3) Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush have set up a special website to accept donations to the relief effort in Haiti. Go online to: http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org/ to learn more.

a. Mobile Giving: Text the word “QUAKE” to 20222to donate $10to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which will be charged to your cell phone bill.

4) The U.S. Department of State has a phone number and website to inquire about Americans in Haiti: 888-407-4747 or online at www.travel.state.gov/

The NAWC Staff

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WOUND MEASUREMENT AND DOCUMENTATION

January 18th, 2010

Wound Measurement

Wound Measurement

Wound Measurement and Documentation is a daily task the wound care professionals utilize in their practice. There are various tools like flow sheets, tracing materials, measuring tapes, skin markers, labels, and other products specifically designed for wound assessment, measurement and documentation.

Measuring Guide

There are varying types of documentation methods  from print to electronic, digital photography to tracing. For example, tracings are used to measure the surface of a wound and provide a clear, visual picture of how a wound appears without the use of a camera. Some institutions prefer not to photography and tracing or measurement based documentation is preferred. Some Departments of Health require film based photography only and others are more accepting of Digital Photography.

DSLR

Wound measurement tools are used to determine length, width, and depth. They are available in a wide variety of materials, including plastics, paper, or soft film and as single-patient use or reusable.

Kiss Healthcare

The use of wound measuring tools help documentation to be consistent and more exact in measuring the status of a wound as to whether it is progressing or regressing or remaining static. There is no question that documentation is a necessity. The more accurately we document, the better we can convey the understanding of what we are trying to relay to other health care professionals and readers of the patient’s chart.

So what kinds of measuring and documentation tools do you use in your wound care setting?

The Wound Care Education Institute will teach you how to accurately measure wounds in their Skin and Wound Management Course. Check out our list of dates and locations for more information about becoming Wound Care Certified

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Pressure Ulcer Stages (A Review)

January 7th, 2010

The following is taken from the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel’s website. As wound care certified professionals, are we all consistently documenting and defining the pressure ulcers correctly. We have included an excerpt from NPUAP’s site below.

The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel has defined the definition of a pressure ulcer and the stages of pressure ulcers, including the original 4 stages and adding 2 stages on deep tissue injury and unstageable pressure ulcers. This work is the culmination of over 5 years of work beginning with the identification of deep tissue injury in 2001.

Pressure Ulcer Definition
A pressure ulcer is localized injury to the skin and/or underlying tissue usually over a bony prominence, as a result of pressure, or pressure in combination with shear and/or friction. A number of contributing or confounding factors are also associated with pressure ulcers; the significance of these factors is yet to be elucidated.

Pressure Ulcer Stages

Suspected Deep Tissue Injury:

Purple or maroon localized area of discolored intact skin or blood-filled blister due to damage of underlying soft tissue from pressure and/or shear. The area may be preceded by tissue that is painful, firm, mushy, boggy, warmer or cooler as compared to adjacent tissue.

Further description:
Deep tissue injury may be difficult to detect in individuals with dark skin tones. Evolution may include a thin blister over a dark wound bed. The wound may further evolve and become covered by thin eschar. Evolution may be rapid exposing additional layers of tissue even with optimal treatment.

Stage I:
Intact skin with non-blanchable redness of a localized area usually over a bony prominence. Darkly pigmented skin may not have visible blanching; its color may differ from the surrounding area.

Further description:
The area may be painful, firm, soft, warmer or cooler as compared to adjacent tissue. Stage I may be difficult to detect in individuals with dark skin tones. May indicate “at risk” persons (a heralding sign of risk)

Stage II:
Partial thickness loss of dermis presenting as a shallow open ulcer with a red pink wound bed, without slough. May also present as an intact or open/ruptured serum-filled blister.

Further description:
Presents as a shiny or dry shallow ulcer without slough or bruising.* This stage should not be used to describe skin tears, tape burns, perineal dermatitis, maceration or excoriation.
*Bruising indicates suspected deep tissue injury

Stage III:
Full thickness tissue loss. Subcutaneous fat may be visible but bone, tendon or muscle are not exposed. Slough may be present but does not obscure the depth of tissue loss. May include undermining and tunneling.

Further description:
The depth of a stage III pressure ulcer varies by anatomical location. The bridge of the nose, ear, occiput and malleolus do not have subcutaneous tissue and stage III ulcers can be shallow. In contrast, areas of significant adiposity can develop extremely deep stage III pressure ulcers. Bone/tendon is not visible or directly palpable.

Stage IV:
Full thickness tissue loss with exposed bone, tendon or muscle. Slough or eschar may be present on some parts of the wound bed. Often include undermining and tunneling.

Further description:
The depth of a stage IV pressure ulcer varies by anatomical location. The bridge of the nose, ear, occiput and malleolus do not have subcutaneous tissue and these ulcers can be shallow. Stage IV ulcers can extend into muscle and/or supporting structures (e.g., fascia, tendon or joint capsule) making osteomyelitis possible. Exposed bone/tendon is visible or directly palpable.

Unstageable:
Full thickness tissue loss in which the base of the ulcer is covered by slough (yellow, tan, gray, green or brown) and/or eschar (tan, brown or black) in the wound bed.

Further description:
Until enough slough and/or eschar is removed to expose the base of the wound, the true depth, and therefore stage, cannot be determined. Stable (dry, adherent, intact without erythema or fluctuance) eschar on the heels serves as “the body’s natural (biological) cover” and should not be removed.

For more information about Pressure Ulcers and Staging and how to become Wound Care Certified, please visit our registration page.

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Functions of the Skin

January 5th, 2010

Functions of the Skin (A Review)

The Skin

Lets review some basics about the skin. Sometimes a review helps us keep what should be obvious in perspective.

Protection: (From bacterial invasion and against external elements)

1. Protection from external environments like water, chemicals as well as mechanical forces, bacteria and viruses as well as ultraviolet radiation.
2. The skin prevents excessive loss of fluids and electrolytes always striving for homeostasis
3. It assists in Immunological response
4. The skin produces sebum which is a lipid-rich oily substance that is secreted by sebaceous glands. It provides an acidic coating and retards the growth or organisms
5. Melanin helps protect against Ultraviolet rays. Exposure to sunlight increases melanin production. Melanin production can depend on race and amount of exposure to sunlight

Holds the Body in Shape

* Along with other structures such as muscle, bone and cartilege, the skin helps keep our “shape”

Sense the environment, basic types of sensations

The skin has receptors within it that enable the brain and body to ‘feel’. These sensations are:

1. Pain
2. Touch
3. Temperature
4. Pressure

Retain Water

* The tightly packed cells of the stratum corneum provide protection against water loss. It helps hold it all inside the body.

Maintain Temperature- Thermoregulation

The skin assists the body maintain consistent temperature. This is called Thermoregulation.

1. Primary Mechanisms- Through Circulation and Sweating the body is able to regulate temperature
2. Blood vessels that suply blood to the skin can dilate (vasodilation) so that heat is caarried by the blood to the skin where it can be diffused into the air. Conversely, it can constrict (vasoconstriction) to prevent heat loss through the skin once body temperature has stabilized.

Immunological Response

* White Blood Cells (WBCs) in the skin can capture and destroy the bacteria that is invading the epidermis

Expressions and Emotions

1. The skin helps with the identification of a person
2. The skin plays a role in external and internal assessments of beauty
3. The skin lends to body image importance

Metabolism

* When exposed to ultraviolet B radiation from sunlight, cells in the epidermis convert cholesterol-related steroid to Vitamin D also known as cholecalciferol. The general result is the maintenance of Calcium and phosphorus levels in the bone and blood

Sometimes reviewing some of the basics about the skin or your profession can go a long way. It can help you have a better insight into caring for the skin. Remember the skin is the largest organ of the body. For more information about becoming wound care certified, please visit our Registration Page

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Wound & Skin Management Course and NAWC Certification Examination, Jamaica NY, January 14-17, 2010

January 3rd, 2010

Our Wound & Skin management Course and NAWC Certification Examination will be offered in Jamaica NY on January 14-17, 2010.
It will be held at Doubletree JFK 135-30 140 St, Jamaica, NY 11436

Our Skin and Wound Management Course is designed to provide participants with the best practices in wound care, the science behind healing wounds, and the most current standards of practice. At the end of the course, for those that pursue wound certification the National Alliance of Wound Care® provides the WCC® exam.

Become Wound Care Certified with WCEI’s Wound Care Course
Or just simply take the course for your own knowledge and benefit. Our wound certification course is an informative and empowering week for anyone interested in learning more about healing wounds.

Individuals who are not eligible for wound care certification may also attend the course. Wound-related product sales representatives or other non-clinicians can gain valuable insight into the business and science of wound care, thus giving them an edge over their competition.

Wound Care Certification
WCEI’s Skin and Wound Management Course meets the pre-requisite requirement for the National Alliance of Wound Care® (NAWC®) certification exam. Eligible participants are given the option to take the wound examination onsite. Please click here to view the requirements for wound care certification.

The Wound Care Certification Exam
The NAWC® Wound Care Certification Examination is administered at the conclusion of the course for those who meet the eligibility requirements to sit for the certification exam. The test is administered by NAWC – the National Alliance of Wound Care.


The Advantages of Wound Care Certification

* Earning a wound specialist certification offers many advantages and benefits including:
* Increased consumer/patient confidence
* Feelings of pride, self-satisfaction and confidence for the certified wound specialist
* Enhanced career opportunities and accelerated career advancement including higher pay levels
* Professional acknowledgement, recognition, and respect

“Being certified has made a great difference in my professional life!”

–Deb Hans, RN, WCC®, Loxahatchee, FL

Course Atmosphere
The Skin and Wound Management Course is taught in a fun, relaxed and professional environment. The classes are upbeat, positive, high energy, and designed specifically for health care professionals. Classes are interactive to maintain participants’ energy and interest levels; and all of the instructors are dynamic presenters who use lots of visuals, a variety of learning styles, interesting examples and humor as part of their instruction styles. We promise you won’t be bored.

Here’s what one satisfied participant had to say about WCEI’s wound care certification program:

“Thanks for such a great experience. … The classes were never boring; there was always something new that I was learning. Excellent, Excellent, Excellent! ”

–Sue Tredenick, LPN, WCC®, Lansdowne, PA

WCEI’s Skin and Wound Management Course is a four or five-day wound care training seminar consisting of classroom training.

For 5-Day Class Sessions

Days 1-4
Concentrated all-day wound care training sessions
9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Day 5
NAWC® Wound Care Certification Examination 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Administered by National Alliance of Wound Care®) following WCEI’s wound care training.

4-Day Class sessions vary and may be customized to meet group needs.

Wound Care Training Course — Curriculum

Anatomy & Physiology
Anatomy/Physiology of Skin
Physiological Process of Wound Healing

Wounds
Wound Assessment – Etiology – Characteristics
Wound Management Interventions
Wound Bed Preparation
Arterial, Vascular, and Diabetic Ulcers
Special Wound Care Needs
Adjunctive Treatment Modalities
Nutritional Management
Bacterial Burden
Continuity of Care

Professional/Legal
Evidence-based Practice Guidelines
Change, Conflict Management, Communication
Patient/Family Education
National Health Care Issues
Legal/Ethical Aspects, Quality of Care Issues
Cost Management/Budgeting
Professional Responsibilities
Resource Utilization
Wound Care Team
Coordination of Services – Multidisciplinary Approach

Our wound care training is practical, valuable, interesting, fun, high-energy and interactive. Taught by top-notch, up-beat, high-energy instructors, the classes are specifically designed to hold the interest and maintain the energy level of health care professionals used to being active in their jobs.

You can Register Here for the Wound & Skin Management Course and NAWC Certification Examination

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