Kelly Byrd-Jenkins's blog

by Kelly Byrd-Jenkins, CWS

It may come as no surprise to some, but pressure ulcers are among the only hospital-acquired conditions that have been on the rise in recent years. Other hospital-acquired conditions—such as adverse drug events, falls, and catheter-associated urinary tract infections—have decreased, according to a statement by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in January of this year.

by Kelly Byrd-Jenkins, CWS

What you do in the outpatient center is not easy, and not everyone is doing it. In many cases, they'd prefer to let us decipher this challenging demographic's path to healing. Patients we're entrusted to serve are complex in their needs, diagnoses, and compliance with our treatment plans. We see them frequently, often over extended periods of time, and due to the very nature of their mixed, long-standing wound etiologies, we don't always get to see complete and total healing for quite some time. These are etiologies we aren't managing, but must factor in to be effective. Considerable time is spent equipping these patients for personal success by coordinating resources and providing education. And for the patient whose end goal is stability, we recognize that outcome as success each time we see them.