Pressure Ulcers

by Heidi H. Cross, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, CWON

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, more than 17,000 lawsuits related to pressure ulcers (PUs) are filed annually in the United States, second only to wrongful death lawsuits. One of the greatest gifts to defense attorneys was when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published F-Tag 314, finally acknowledging that some ulcers can occur despite best care. The facility essentially can maintain, “Hey, we did everything we were supposed to, and despite that, the patient developed that pressure ulcer”—that is, the ulcer was unavoidable. To prove unavoidability, proper documentation (proof) of best care needs to be in place, as well as documentation that all proper prevention and treatment measures were implemented.

by the WoundSource Editors

Chronic wounds affect over 6.5 million people annually in the United States, with a total cost of over $26.8 billion per year. Proper identification of chronic wounds is necessary to develop an effective treatment plan, although many elements—such as intrinsic and extrinsic factors, comorbidities, and mixed etiologies—may complicate this process.

by Heidi H. Cross, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, CWON

"If a patient is cold, if a patient is feverish, if a patient is faint, if he is sick after taking food, if he has a bed sore, it is generally the fault not of the disease, but of the nursing." —Florence Nightingale

Ouch! What an indictment of nursing and, by extension, the facility in which the nurse works. We have a lot to thank Florence Nightingale for—a brilliant woman considered to be the founder of nursing and nursing standards and the first to ever put statistics to health care, among other valuable contributions.

By Cheryl Carver, LPN, WCC, CWCA, CWCP, DAPWCA, FACCWS, CLTC – Wound Educator

Auditing documentation has always been part of my wound nurse role in some way or another. My first experience with auditing documentation with a fine-tooth comb was while working in the hospital wound center setting as a hyperbaric oxygen technician. Back then, hyperbaric oxygen therapy was more difficult to get reimbursed, and there were a lot of Medicare appeals. I would search through stacks of documentation to find validation for the diagnosis specific to the hyperbaric oxygen therapy indication. I quickly found out how ONE word determined reimbursement, and we are not talking pennies. The documentation is either there or it isn’t. Wound care documentation also requires the same impeccable documentation. Reimbursement is driven by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines. We must follow the rules, or we do not get paid.

by Industry News

January 15, 2019 – The Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) will host the 2019 Pressure Ulcer Summit (PrU Summit) on February 8 and 9, 2019 at the Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel. The Summit will be preceded by the workshop, “PrU Prevention Programs: Justify, Quantify, Strategize,” on February 7.

by Kara Couch, MS, CRNP, CWS, CWCN-AP

The Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) is dedicated to providing forums that challenge the status quo, promote new ideas for practice and research, and, most importantly, share information that immediately enhances the care we provide to the patients who so desperately need our expertise. For wound care to advance as a specialty, our educational programs must not focus on novices and consist of redundant sanitized content; it requires open debate and critical evidence-based analysis. To achieve this, the AAWC is hosting a series of regional, single-topic meetings that are designed to bring high-level content at an affordable cost closer to our members who may not have the ability to attend a national meeting.

by Heidi H. Cross, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, CWON

Failure to T&P (turn and position) is always part and parcel of a pressure ulcer lawsuit and a key element of a complaint related to pressure ulcers, as illustrated in the opening quotation. T&P documentation is a dominant focus in chart analysis and is usually one of the first things that an attorney and the expert witness look for. If T&P documentation is satisfactory, the defendant is likely to prevail; if not, then the plaintiff may have a pretty rock-solid case. But as I have opined in previous blogs, is there such a thing as perfect documentation? Alas...NO! (Or at least, rarely.)

By Margaret Heale, RN, MSc, CWOCN

In our point, click, fill-in-the -blanks world of ever increasing wound care algorithms and MOs, I have an ax to grind (straight into my so-called smart phone if I had the courage).

By Cheryl Carver, LPN, WCC, CWCA, FACCWS, DAPWCA, CLTC

It is 2018, and health care professionals around the world are still debating what to call skin damage. I totally immersed myself in wound care because of losing my 47-year-old mother to what was then called "decubitus ulcers." I was young when my mother died, and I wanted to know why and how this could happen. My perspective is different from that of most clinicians because of my personal experience.

by the WoundSource Editors