This WCEI free webinar will help wound care professionals understand more about skin tears, including how to treat and prevent them (and help patients heal).
If you’ve ever suffered a significant skin tear, then you know how painful they can be. The inevitable bleeding (and sometimes even disfigurement) during the healing process can take a toll, both physically and emotionally. So you can imagine how awful it would be to experience this same cycle of pain, over and over again.
Unfortunately, skin tears are a common occurrence with institutionalized patients (particularly in older adults), and often lead to further complications. In fact, a reported 1.5 million skin tears occur in this population each year, and that doesn’t even include unreported incidents occurring at home.
But we’re here to help, thanks to our own WCEI Clinical Instructor Gail Hebert, and her presentation at the 2015 Wild on Wounds National Conference in Las Vegas, “How To: Skin Tears – Prevention and Management.” In this free webinar (see access code below), you can listen to her recorded session and arm yourself with the latest information about skin tear treatment, prevention and management. You can also help to bring the number of annual skin tears down while protecting patients and helping support the facilities in which you work.

Gail Hebert, RN, BS, MS, CWCN, WCC, DWC, OMS, WCEI Clinical Instructor
Ready to learn?
So what exactly is a skin tear? As Hebert explains in the webinar, it’s a traumatic wound caused by shear, friction and/or blunt force trauma that results in either a partial or full thickness injury. And while skin tears certainly occur, to think they are inevitable is short-sighted.
“Our role is to make sure we’ve done everything we can to minimize their occurrences,” says Hebert. “Not just by accepting that skin tears happen and move on, but to work hard at all the variables that can be controlled, so skin tears can be the exception rather than the rule.”
Through Hebert’s webinar, you will learn so much more about skin tears, including:
- How to identify risks for skin tears and skin tear category classifications.
- Current evidence-based recommendations for accurate skin tear assessment, prediction, treatment and prevention strategies.
- Forms and tools you can put to use immediately.
“Skin tears are considered to be negative patient outcomes,” adds Hebert. “So in terms of your facility’s reputation, you don’t want to be known as a place where an excessive number of skin tears take place.” In other words, if people wonder if your facility is doing everything it can to prevent them, you want to be able to respond with a resounding, “Yes!”
What people have to say
Those who were able to attend Hebert’s session in person last summer at the WOW Conference had plenty of feedback to share. Here’s a sample:
“Who knew there was enough on this subject matter to actually speak on it for one whole hour? It was great!”
“Excellent speaker, and was happy to hear that I was caring for skin tears in the right manner! Now I can go back to my facilities and students, and pass this information on! Thank you so much! Very engaging speaker!”
“This was a great review for me. I used last year’s skin tear outline to help build our skin tear policy, so I truly appreciate the updated outlines provided with this lecture.”

Go ahead, take the skin tear plunge!
Are you ready to learn more about skin tears and put into practice your newfound knowledge? Click here and use the code SKINTEARS to access this 60-minute recording, which qualifies for an education credit.
Tell us your stories
Have you made improvements in your own facility when it comes to skin-tear prevention? What were they, and what results have you noticed? Do you have any other suggestions for skin-tear treatment, prevention or assessment? Leave your comments below.
Wound Care Education Institute® provides online and onsite courses in the fields of Skin, Wound, Diabetic and Ostomy Management. Health care professionals who meet the eligibility requirements may sit for the prestigious WCC®, DWC® and OMS national board certification examinations through the National Alliance of Wound Care and Ostomy® (NAWCO®). For more information see wcei.net.