Recent Posts | page 21
September 14, 2016
When it comes to wound care, staging pressure injuries with visible or palpable cartilage doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s what to do. If you’ve ever treated wounds around the ear or in the area just below the bridge of the nose, you know how very little subcutaneous tissue there is. As a result, […]
September 9, 2016
Bereavement care is part of the job, no matter how difficult it is to talk about death and deal with grieving family members. “Callous disregard.” These two little emotionally loaded words are how the plaintiff complaint summed up the following story from a grieving daughter named Sally.* In her deposition, Sally recounted how nice and […]
August 17, 2016
Ostomy Lifestyle Specialist and fellow ostomate Laura Cox shares her most frequently asked ostomy patient questions (and she gives you the answers, too). Editor’s note: in her blog series, Ostomy Lifestyle Specialist Laura Cox, Shield HeatlhCare, shares lifestyle tips and information with fellow ostomates. After being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at the age of eighteen, […]
August 12, 2016
Here’s how wound care detectives can solve the mystery of chronic wounds that fail to heal. Ready for some serious detective work? In this case, our focus is on those chronic wounds that just won’t heal, including epibole (which happens in full thickness wounds). And as we know, this rolled wound edge inhibits healing. But […]
July 29, 2016
Five clinical tests for diagnosing loss of protective sensation in the diabetic foot, plus tips on inflammation assessment. How serious are diabetic foot ulcers? The statistics are sobering: It is estimated that between 10 and 25% of patients with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer in their lifetime. Diabetic foot ulcers precede 84% of all lower […]
July 21, 2016
How do you use hydrogel dressings to keep wounds moist without causing maceration? Very carefully. If you’ve ever taken a long bath or spent an afternoon in a swimming pool, you’re familiar with what happens to your hands and feet: they become soft, white, and wrinkled up like prunes. This is a classic case […]
July 8, 2016
These days, most people have a camera in their pocket, giving family members the ability to take their own wound photographs. When we talk about wound photography, we usually are referring to health care professionals (HCPs) taking periodic photographs to document the healing process as part of a patient’s permanent medical record. In fact, some […]
June 16, 2016
(Adapted from About Ostomies: Ostomy 101 by Shield Healthcare) A comprehensive guide to the different ostomy types, including colostomies, ileostomies, and urostomies. Do you know your ostomy types? There are three kinds of bowel or bladder ostomies, and with this handy guide, you can brush up on each one – including the multiple sub-types. But […]
June 13, 2016
If you practice wound care, here’s what you need to know in order to avoid Medical Adhesive Related Skin Injury – also known as MARSI. Here’s a quiz for all of you in wound care: how many medical adhesive injuries are reported each year in the United States? The answer is 1.5 million. That’s a […]
April 29, 2016
When it comes to diabetic wound care, footwear matters – and proper diabetic patient shoe assessment is key. Wound clinicians know how devastating foot amputations are for diabetic patients. But what you might not know is that a whopping 50% of diabetic foot amputations are a direct result of patients wearing improper footwear. Surprised? Unfortunately, […]