Patient Outcomes

By Kathy Gallagher, DNP, APRN-FNP, CMC, UMC, BC, WCC, CWS, FACCWS

In 2010, Christiana Care Health System, a 1,000 bed Level I trauma center in Wilmington, Delaware, introduced an acute surgical wound service (ASWS) integration plan in with a single dedicated nurse practitioner, trauma surgeon, and administrative leader. Subsequently, trauma patients with complex wounds experienced decreased morbidity and length of stay. Closely aligned with these numbers, their patient days of negative pressure wound therapy fell from 11+ days in 2010 to 8.2 days in 2018, representing one of the lowest in the nation.

Christine Miller, DPM, DMM, PhD, FACCWS

One of the most difficult aspects of patient care is dealing with non-compliance. How do we help those who refuse to help themselves? This question is very convoluted indeed! The best treatment protocols in the world will be unsuccessful if the patient does not follow the recommendations. Patients with chronic wounds are usually those with multiple comorbidities such as uncontrolled diabetes, autoimmune disease, and uncontrolled hypertension. This complex medical picture is challenging enough for all of us trying to heal them, but add the patients' lack of concern for their own health and it is quite frankly maddening. I find myself often saying, "Help me help you" or "Healing is a team event," although mostly my genuine pleas for partnership fall on deaf ears.

Paula Erwin Toth, RN, MSN, FAAN, WOC nurse

Northeast Ohio is now being enveloped by a polar vortex. The subzero temperatures put everyone at risk, but our patients with chronic wounds are especially vulnerable. Neuropathy can desensitize them to the cold and result in frostbite, inadequate shelter and heat, and an inability to go to health care appointments, shop for food, or pick up (or even afford) prescriptions and wound care products. This can have devastating effects.

By Janet Wolfson, PT, CLWT, CWS, CLT-LANA

Last spring, I encountered that specific type of patient we sometimes meet, the one who has been through the chronic wound care revolving door so many times that he or she sets out on his or her own path and refuses any byways diverting from it.

by Janet Wolfson PT, CLWT, CWS, CLT-LANA

by Paula Erwin-Toth MSN, RN, CWOCN, CNS, FAAN

As we embark on our journey into 2017, many are concerned about the road ahead. A new President and GOP dominated Congress have promised to make health care reform a priority. There have been numerous articles and opinion pieces written about the path these changes will take and what they will mean to patients, caregivers, and clinicians alike.

by Catherine T. Milne, APRN, MSN, BC-ANP, CWOCN-AP

Editor's Note: This letter originally appeared in the 19th edition of WoundSource™, published July 2016.

by Aletha Tippett MD

How do you know if you are making right choice for a patient? Or, how do you know if you are even making a choice? This is true in the world of limb salvage. I have witnessed too many patients for which the risk of amputation was too much, and they died. But how do you know what the outcome will really be? You never really know, but you can make your best guess.

by Paula Erwin-Toth MSN, RN, CWOCN, CNS, FAAN

January is the month for committing to new goals and resolutions for the year ahead. Several years ago I made a New Year's resolution to stop making New Year's resolutions. Like most New Year's resolutions I have not had much success in keeping it. Therefore I am sharing a few resolutions.

In 2015, I resolve to:

By Robert Striks, Special Writer, Encompass HealthCare & Wound Medicine

There's a funny scene in the Marx Brothers movie, "Horse Feathers," where Chico tells Harpo how to escape from the room they are locked inside by using a rope. Chico instructs Harpo to tie one end of the rope to the bed and then throw the other end of the rope out the window. "Tie on the bed, throw the rope out the window," he repeats. Haplessly, Harpo takes the tie he was wearing around his neck, places it on the bed and then throws the entire escape rope out the window.