Recent Posts | page 25
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 […]
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
An ostomy patient reviews questions that many patients with ostomies commonly bring up, so you as a provider can provide better osotomy care.
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
Key Takeaways This article explores the careful use of hydrogel dressings to maintain a moist wound environment without causing maceration, a condition where excessive moisture leads to skin breakdown. It highlights proper application techniques for hydrogels, such as confining the gel to the wound bed using a cotton swab and applying a moisture barrier to […]
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
A review of several different ostomy types and their subtypes, including colostomy and ileostomy, and how each one affects the patient.
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 […]