Let 2023 be the year you resolve to engage in meaningful self-care, because you can’t show up for your patients if you don’t show up for yourself. Self-care isn’t just advised, it’s paramount. This is true for everyone, but it is especially so for healthcare workers. You can’t work toward better patient outcomes if you are running on empty. The…
Deep Tissue Injury (DTI). What, exactly, is it? DTI is typically described as a localized discoloration of intact skin or a blood-filled blister with soft tissue damage from pressure and/or shear. Deep Tissue Injury (DTI). What, exactly, is it? DTI is typically described as a localized discoloration of intact skin or a blood-filled blister with soft tissue damage from pressure…
Recognizing and Celebrating the Contributions of the WOC Nurse Picking the top ten reasons why we love nurses was tough, but we gave it the old college try! For the most part, it’s widely known that doctors have specialties. But how about nurses? To the layperson, all nurses provide patient care. Period. This, of course, is true — but there…
Preventing Pressure Injuries in the Perioperative Setting There was an alarming 48% decrease in surgeries when the country first shut down in March of 2020, that phase only lasted seven weeks. Seven weeks. A lot has been written, reported, tweeted, and posted about COVID-19, and one common thread has been the drastic decrease and near cessation of all surgical procedures.…
Making a hard situation a little easier amidst long medical treatments Four hours, three times a week is the average time frame for hemodialysis treatments, and given what is known about the length of time in which a pressure injury could develop, this could pose a serious problem. Four hours, three times a week! According to the National Kidney Foundation, this…
Never Events vs. Unavoidable Pressure Injuries Never events are not new concepts, but it never hurts to brush up on what they mean for wound care. Never events are not new concepts, but it never hurts to brush up on what they mean for wound care. In 2006, the National Quality Forum (NQF) identified 29 events, particularly medical errors, deemed…
How Malnutrition and Cachexia Contribute to Pressure Injuries Clinicians need to understand and account for the body’s inflammatory response and its connection to inadequate nutrition. Frail and elderly patients with compromised nutritional intake are at a considerably higher risk for skin breakdown. Nutrition. It’s a risk factor on the Braden Scale, but is it really that important? Yes! Nutritional insufficiency…
Time/Motion Studies Pinpoint How Nurses Spend Their Days Nurses did spend the majority of the day communicating with patients. Incorporated in this timeframe, however, were 10+ tasks including medication disbursement, assessments, and charting. By nature, most nurses are multitaskers. They have to be. But what does a day in the life of a nurse actually look like? A recent time/motion…
A Renewed Appreciation for the Resilience of Nurses WOC Nurses near and dear to our EHOB hearts, we marvel at the tenacity it took to keep the patient’s skin on the radar. Hero – a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities when faced with adversity. No one really signs up to be a…
The Preferred Treatment is Prevention Pressure injuries are painful, quite often increase patient lengths of stay and carry an annual mortality rate of nearly 60,000. It stands to reason why prevention may be the wisest choice. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. While Ben Franklin probably wasn’t referring to pressure injuries, he was spot on! And…