Caregiver

By Cheryl Carver, LPN, WCC, CWCA, DAPWCA, FACCWS Worldwide Pressure Ulcer/Injury Prevention & Awareness Day is November 21st. This day is considered pretty much a holiday at my home. I have Stop Pressure Ulcer tee shirts, and I order a cake or STOP sign cookies every year from the bakery in memory of my mother. To some it might sound crazy, but my life was strongly impacted forever in 1996 after my mother passed away in my arms at only 47 years old because of complications of diabetes and what was called at that time "multiple decubitus." The image and smell will never leave my mind. It changed my life forever as a daughter, a caregiver, and later as a wound nurse. I needed more answers to heal my heart. How could my mother acquire such horrible wounds while at the hospital to get better? My mind was twirling nonstop with the 5Ws. Who, what, when, where, why? So, then it began. I wanted to learn everything I could. This ended up being sort of my therapy, which transitioned into my passion and purpose.

By Holly M. Hovan MSN, RN-BC, APRN.ACNS-BC, CWOCN-AP Often when we hear the words "pressure injury," our brains are trained to think about staging the wound, considering treatment options, and obtaining a provider's order for care. Ideally, when we hear the words "pressure injury," we should think prevention! As Benjamin Franklin once said, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This is a very true statement and speaks volumes to our goals of care and education format when developing pressure injury prevention curriculum for our facilities.

Editor's Note: How can clinicians help support caregivers who look after family members with pressure injuries? In this interview, Kelly McFee, DNP, FNP-C, CWS, CWCN-AP, FACCWS, DAPWCA discusses how to educate caregivers on pressure injury prevention and what resources exist for caregivers for further insight.

Many of us will eventually take on a caregiver role in one form or another. According to the 2020 update, the number of family caregivers in the United States increased by 9.5 million between 2015 and 2020. More than one in every five Americans is now a caregiver in their own home. Because of our aging population, there is an associated increase in demand for caregiving, and there should be an emphasis on education and support for this population.