WOCWEB: A Wound, Ostomy, Continence resource for bedside nurses

Purpose:  Technology has changed the way medical professionals can communicate and educate.  The WOC nurse department at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center identified a need to disseminate information to assist the bedside nurse in making informed decisions to improve patient care. A review of calls to the WOC nurses indicated there was a need for increased information available to the bedside nurse.  In order to meet the needs of the nursing staff 24 / 7 an internal web site was developed by the WOC nurse department.  Access to the intranet web site is available to any medical professional from any computer within the institution.  The website serves as a way for bedside nurses to obtain clinical information in order to make better clinical decisions.

Objective:  More work, more patients, less time.  This is a theme for today's bedside nurse.  The objective of the WOCWEB was to provide the bedside nurse with the basic tools of wound, ostomy, and continence nursing when the WOC nurses were not on site.  The objective of this presentation is to give viewers information that will assist them with identifying applications for a web page in various practice settings.

Outcomes:  The bedside nurse now has immediate access to wound, ostomy, and continence information that will assist her / him in making the appropriate patient care decisions.  The web site allows the WOC nurses to provide up to date information for the bedside nurses and thus allows the WOC nurses increased patient care time.