Mentorship

By Michel H.E. Hermans, MD The first time you see your name published as the lead author of an article you are filled with pride. If an article is rejected you are filled with frustration.

By Diana L. Gallagher MS, RN, CWOCN, CFCN It's finally here. Thanksgiving has been put away along with the good china and crystal. Our family, like countless other families across the country, enjoyed the traditional rounds of football games, the company of family and friends and far too much food. As much as I enjoy Thanksgiving, I love Christmas. I simply adore everything about the holiday season which for me begins the day after Thanksgiving.

By Jeanne Cunningham, Founder of WoundSource After seeing about 100 pictures of wounds, I was beginning to feel sick. The year was 1985 and there I was, a recent college graduate in my 20s, sitting in a cramped office at the Crozer Chester Medical Center in Chester, PA, watching slide after slide of feet, elbows, legs, bottoms, in fact, every part of the human body with open, colorful wounds.

By Paula Erwin-Toth MSN, RN, CWOCN, CNS Now that summer is upon us we will soon be entering the orientation and entry of new residents, fellows and new nursing graduates in acute care. This is a terrific opportunity for you to reach out and engage the interest of these new clinicians in evidence-based wound care practice. Granted, they are overwhelmed with new information and new responsibilities, but prevention and management of wounds is knowledge they can apply to nearly all their patients and across all health care settings.

According to a recent MGMA Stat poll, 60% of health care organizations offer an onboarding/mentorship program for new health care professionals. This process involves the transfer of knowledge from 1 clinician to another. While this premise sounds straightforward, it is more nuanced. Wound care professionals may struggle to meet the ever-increasing needs of patients while they focus on learning new technologies or knowledge in a rapidly evolving field. Mentorship programs allow for easier knowledge transfer to speed up the learning process.

by Catherine Milne, APRN, MSN, ANP/ACNS-BC, CWOCN-AP We need mentors in wound care. Why? Our number of wound care providers cannot meet the overwhelming needs of our patients, our traditional practice patterns are changing from acute to post-acute care, reimbursement models are variable and technology is rapidly shifting. Nursing, physical therapy and medical schools are teaching less and less wound care. Many times, what is being taught is archaic.

By Diana L. Gallagher MS, RN, CWOCN, CFCN Recently, I have been intrigued by a variety of celebrities offering us a glimpse of their inner selves as they share what they wish they had known when they were young. These "Notes to a Younger Self" are fascinating to me. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we knew what we know now when we were first beginning? Would knowing have altered our decisions or the paths that we have taken? I don't know but I have to wonder.

By Diana L. Gallagher MS, RN, CWOCN, CFCN The importance of being exposed to positive role models is critical in nurturing one’s development and growth. In nursing, it is an important element that helps move an individual along the path from novice to expert. Take a moment and think back to your experience in nursing school. If your experience was like most, you were exposed to both very positive role models that inspired you to aspire to be your BEST and sadly, a few role models that were less than positive. As a whole, my nursing faculty provided a strong example of what a nurse should be.

As a child, I did my best to teach my stuffed animals. I lined them up perfectly, and set up my little card table and chairs. I couldn’t wait to grow up and become a real teacher. Teaching what, I didn’t know. Well, since then I have become a wound care educator for physicians and nurses. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about wound care education. Not education in terms of course curriculum, but education as the process of transforming one’s thinking and perspective.

By Diana L. Gallagher MS, RN, CWOCN, CFCN In my introductory blog, I indulged in a personal journey down memory lane. I looked back fondly at some of the incredible mentors that inspired me and shaped my career. In contemplating this month’s blog, I reviewed that initial post. It became very clear to me that the sage advice that I would offer to myself as a novice nurse is just as applicable today. I wager that these same pearls may apply to you as well.