Wound Care Risk Management posts
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By Carole Jakucs, MSN, RN, PHN, CDCES

April 3, 2019

Taking wound care pictures is now common. Know the legal steps when photographing wounds and how they relate to your organization’s policies and procedures.

By Nancy J. Brent, MS, JD, RN

March 6, 2019

A wound care specialist should be cautious about evaluating a patient’s wound care “on the fly" because it can lead to allegations against the clinician.

By Nancy Collins, PhD, RDN, LD, NWCC, FAND

August 31, 2018

Every minute counts when a patient chokes, so you must react confidently and have a plan in place to handle this emergency situation. John Quiñones stars in the ABC television show What Would You . The program features actors cast in scenes of conflict or illegal activity in public settings, while hidden cameras record the […]

By Nancy Collins, PhD, RDN, LD, NWCC, FAND

November 10, 2017

Wound care is a stressful profession, and sometimes your empathy bucket becomes empty, but job burnout is not a proper professional or legal defense. A group of my professional friends were having lunch together and catching up when one friend disclosed that she was taking a month off of work. We all looked at her […]

By Keisha Smith, MA, CWCMS

September 8, 2017

Obesity presents challenges to wound healing, but with knowledge and appropriate care interventions, we can provide optimal conditions to support the best possible outcome for every patient, no matter what size. The US obesity epidemic reached a new all-time high in 2016, according to newly released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.1 Every single […]

By Keisha Smith, MA, CWCMS

August 11, 2017

Patients often sue for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the medical care rendered, but rather for the human care that is perceived as lacking. The last few weeks were very difficult for my family and friends in the medical sense. I had one family member in an intensive care unit […]

By Keisha Smith, MA, CWCMS

June 9, 2017

Improvement is always possible. Make sure your wound care program is a safe place for staff to offer ideas for improving care.

By Keisha Smith, MA, CWCMS

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 […]

By Keisha Smith, MA, CWCMS

March 10, 2017

Trained wound care clinicians truly make a difference in the lives of their patients. This caregiver knows first-hand, and wanted to share her story.  Recently, a 45-year-old caregiver by the name of Annie* contacted WCEI for help. She was desperate and in search of answers. Her personal account serves as a sobering reminder of why […]

By Keisha Smith, MA, CWCMS

February 3, 2017

The battle between optimal medical care and patient rights is one to fight with empathy and finesse to keep it out of the courtroom. I recently reviewed a lawsuit filed by the family of a patient* with a spinal cord injury. The patient was involved in a car accident and sustained multiple traumatic injuries. The […]