January 19, 2018
Key Takeaways Lower extremity ulcers may require an evaluation of arterial blood flow, but the Ankle Brachial Index (ABI) can give misleading results in patients with calcified arteries due to conditions like diabetes or kidney disease. The Toe Brachial Pressure Index (TBPI) offers an effective alternative, allowing more accurate assessment of blood flow by focusing […]
May 12, 2017
Lawsuits often are settled out of court because the medical record documentation is not defensible. Incomplete, illogical, and inconsistent records are far too common, so it is important to avoid the common pitfalls. After reviewing hundreds of medical charts involved in litigation, I noticed many of the same problems occurring in the wound care documentation […]
April 7, 2017
Documentation of turning and repositioning often leads to legal problems as some healthcare providers chart by exception and others chart at the point of care. “The hospital never turned the patient, and therefore the patient suffered a serious pressure injury,” declared the plaintiff attorney. The defense team shot back, “Whoa. Slow down. Never is long […]
January 13, 2017
How can you tell if a wound is really infected? Learn how to spot the signs of infection and be a skilled wound investigator. Are you ready, wound detectives, to tackle a new case? This time, we’re learning how to spot the signs of infection. Remember, the wound will tell us what we need to […]
December 7, 2016
Determining a patient’s ABI is a vital part of wound care, but unfortunately this step is often avoided … or even omitted. Here’s why this happens, and how you can change it. Have you ever faced a seemingly daunting task, and so you do everything in your power to avoid it? Like renewing a driver’s […]
October 21, 2016
Even the best wound care detectives are challenged by this sneaky culprit that delays healing. Here’s how to identify biofilm bacteria and solve the case. Ready for some serious detective work? In this wound-care case, we will try to find and invade the elusive biofilm bacterial hide-out. So the questions are: where are those microbes […]
October 7, 2016
Inaccurate and incomplete intake and output (I&O) records pose a problem in litigation, as well as a risk to the patient who requires monitoring of fluid balance for medical reasons. “Would you agree that the nurses did not know how to do basic arithmetic?” Of course nurses know how to add and subtract, yet I […]
April 15, 2016
More real-world wound care questions and answers relating to pressure injury staging, including slough, debridement and skin breakdown. Can’t get enough of pressure injury staging? Neither can we. That’s why we’re excited to present even more questions and answers about this topic, based on what wound clinicians experience out in the field (versus what we […]
March 29, 2016
This wound care Q&A answers five of the most common questions about pressure injury staging dilemmas (that you probably didn’t learn from textbooks). In the world of wound care, just as in real life, the phrase, “Expect the unexpected” couldn’t be more appropriate. Clinicians can do everything exactly by the book, only to find that […]
February 18, 2016
Key Takeaways This article discusses the identification and differentiation of various skin lesions that can resemble bruises but have different causes and implications, such as purpura, petechiae, ecchymosis, hematomas, and suspected deep tissue injuries (sDTIs). It highlights the importance of distinguishing these conditions to ensure proper assessment and treatment, and promotes educational resources for healthcare […]