Archive for the ‘Wound Care Costs & Outcomes’ Category

Make Sure the Cost of Wound Care Makes Sense for Everyone

Friday, March 26th, 2021

Most of us are familiar with the saying “you get what you pay for.” And when it comes to the cost of wound care products, there is definitely truth to that.

However, when considering the overall treatment plan, spending more doesn’t always equate to best practice or best results.

Cost-effective wound care means providing the most successful treatment to heal the wound at the least amount of cost. And with annual treatment costs of wound care in the billions in the U.S. alone, there’s plenty of reason to be cost conscious when choosing treatment strategies. Let’s take a look at some of the basic concepts behind this approach.

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Hospice Wound Care: 3 Strategies for Better Patient Outcomes

Wednesday, October 21st, 2020

Providing wound care for hospice patients is an important aspect of delivering comprehensive, end-of-life care.

While some hospice services have wound care specialists on staff or access to on-call, contracted wound care services, others do not.

Hospice providers without wound experts on staff often try to manage patients’ wounds on their own, said Joni Brinker, MSN/MHA, RN, WCC.

Brinker is an Ohio-based consultant and clinical nurse educator with Optum Hospice Pharmacy Services of Eden Prairie, Minn.

They only summon a wound care specialist if a problem develops, she added.

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Study: Pressure Injuries at ICU Admission Predict Outcomes

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020

Pressure injuries are a pervasive problem.

They present a real cost for patients physically, psychologically and monetarily. Plus, pressure injuries have an annual financial burden estimated at $11 billion per year in the U.S., especially in the ICU.

A study published in June 2019 by the journal Critical Care Nurse reports pressure injuries present at ICU admission are associated with longer hospital stays. They also have a modest association with higher in-hospital mortality rates.

“I was looking for an unambiguous clinical marker that could predict patient outcomes and mortality in ICU patients,” said William T. McGee, MD, MHA, associate professor of medicine and surgery at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

He said different modeling tools try to predict outcomes and mortality in ICU patients, but they are not used routinely for all patients at all hospitals.

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Study: Wound Care Certified Nurses Reduce Pressure Injury Rates

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2019

Just how much of an impact do wound care certified (WCC) nurses and other clinicians have on their patients? More than you might imagine.

Carole Jakucs

By Carole Jakucs, MSN, RN, PHN

A formal study was conducted under the auspices of a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) program known as the Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN). The findings of the study revealed a correlation with the presence of onsite WCC staff and a reduction in pressure injury rates for patients.

More than 2.5 million people in the U.S. are affected by pressure injuries, and more than 60,000 patients die each year as a direct result of the condition, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The HIIN study was funded by a grant program through the CMS using civil monetary penalty funds. These funds are used to support projects that benefit patients and residents of nursing homes with the goal of improving the quality of care they receive.

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