A Risk Reduction Program Related to Retained Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Dressing

A Risk Reduction Program Related to Retained Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Dressing

Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) is deemed safe if manufacturer's guidelines are followed.  This therapy has been used successfully in our facility until our facility experienced a case of retained sponge related to NPWT requiring a patient to undergo a surgical procedure for abscess drainage and removal of the retained sponge.  This incident required mandated reporting to the Department of Health and Human Services.  A risk reduction facility wide educational program ensued.  Every nurse in our hospital was inserviced and had to sign off on a NPWT Risk Reduction Guideline to ensure they were educated on safe use of NPWT, the hospital's NPWT policy including labeling of each dressing with number and color of foam pieces used and reconciliation of the foam count at each dressing change, and to certify that they had been to an official NPWT education class within the past twelve months.  Nurses not meeting these criteria would not be assigned to care for a patient receiving NPWT.  At each dressing change, the nurse must complete the NPWT Risk Reduction Guideline Audit Tool which allows us to collect data to ensure we are following our policy and implementing the risk reduction strategies as well as provide tangible data to the Department of Health and Human Services regarding our progress.  Data at 3 months and 6 months has been submitted and demonstrates improvement in compliance with the outlined risk reduction strategies.  One area of concern was that the NPWT audit was not completed in a timely manner.  We determined this may be due to difficulty obtaining the tool and now it is attached to each NPWT pump upon delivery to the patient's room.