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In response to the increasing focus on pressure ulcer prevention within acute care and long term care settings, a Pressure Ulcer Prevention conference at a VA network level was held in 2008. Members of clinical disciplines from eight Midwest VA healthcare facilities from a five state region came together to discuss best practices and areas for needed improvement.
At this multi-state conference and subsequent conferences, it was evident that there was a need for an avenue of information sharing and a way to embrace team collaboration. The purpose of this innovative endeavor was to develop a truly efficient virtual collaborative team and provide a mechanism (content management platform) to effectively share work in both completed and in-progress stages. The objectives of identifying literature to support a virtual collaborative team approach and locate expert informatics support were essential to achieve the purpose and were achieved.
As a result of the integrated use of virtual collaborative teams and content management platforms, more streamlined and standardized approaches to wound care among multi-centered facilities have emerged. Current documents being “shared” are minutes from conferences and meetings, a standardized wound product formulary, Policies and Protocols, updated NPUAP/EPUAP guidelines, and best practices for wound, continence, and ostomy care as well as photos and pertinent website links.
These results provide implications to broader healthcare practice. Resources (human, time and financial) needed to effectively cause change are often limited, even in the largest healthcare systems. The use of virtual team collaboration and technology, such as content management platforms, can serve to streamline and standardize outcomes.