It Takes a Village: Skin Team Grown from the Grassroots

Hospitals are charged with decreasing overall rates of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU).  Moreover, the latest reimbursement guidelines from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services necessitate a purposeful approach in decreasing HAPU.  To achieve, high-quality prevention requires an organizational approach that promotes teamwork, communication, and subject expertise for reduction of HAPU.  To meet this challenge, the development of a Skin Team with bedside nurse involvement is crucial, creative, and proactive.   Hospital investment in the selection, training, and support of growing internal staff nurses who are familiar with the culture, dynamics and specialized populations into certified wound, ostomy, continence nurses (CWOCN) promotes professional development, empowerment, autonomy, and improvements in wound management and prevention.

Learn how a hospital, rather than hiring external skin experts, grew leaders from the bedside providing opportunity for leadership skill development and professional growth.  This unique strategy provides bedside nurses the opportunity to use their creativity and vision to develop a skin integrity program with a purposeful approach in decreasing HAPU.  An example of innovation from the program includes development and implementation of skin care scholars.  Three nurses from each unit have been selected to assist as an organizational resource, lead unit specific quality improvement projects, and serve as a liaison between bedside nurses and Skin Team.  Skin care scholars receive one-year of extensive wound, ostomy, and continence education/training in an ongoing effort to decrease HAPU and advance individual bedside nursing expertise. 

Financial investment in bedside nurses for wound, ostomy, and continence schooling and board certification is beneficial and an asset to any organization for a sustainable skin integrity program with enhanced outcomes and reduction of HAPU.