WOW!! Wound of the Week

Purpose and Rationale How does one Certified Wound, Ostomy and Continence nurse (CWOCN) spread the word on best practice skin care throughout a large hospital?  Working within a shared-governance model, nursing strives to bring forth and incorporate evidence-based, best practice in all we do for our patients.  Synthesis of the Evidence Anecdotal nursing is out.  Nurses must base their care on researched and proven methods to promote positive patient outcomes.  Our patients are living longer which chronic conditions and their skin suffers.  Pressure ulcers, skin tears, vascular and neuropathic ulcers are common conditions seen in our patient profile. Useable information must be available to direct care staff.  The information must be interesting, informative and in the interest of precious time. Proposed Change in Practice RN’s cannot break away to attend lectures, even when planned well in advance!  I had to find a way to educate while peaking interest and giving real-time information.  Implementation Strategies Wound of the Week, aka WOW!! was born.  Weekly, blast email is sent to staff spotlighting a wound.  On the first slide is a color picture of a wound raising two questions; 1.) what are we looking at, 2.) what do we need to do.  On the second slide, the wound is identified, described, and interventions are proposed.  Staff has come alive with interest in wounds.  Nurses look forward to emails and challenge each other.  Managers file copies in sectioned binders placed at the nursing station.  Evaluation Clinicians are benefitting from this quick and effective education.  Through this process I’ve been able to spread myself around using technology to my benefit.   Moving forward, I expect to see nurses who are more accurate in their skin and wound assessment skills, and able to confidently choose appropriate dressings supported by the evidence-based, best practice education they receive.