Dermal Defense Day: A Peer to Peer Educational Event

The Dermal Defense Team (DDT) at a community hospital and trauma center personifies the Chinese proverb, “Tell me and I may forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I may understand”.  As interdisciplinary advocates on every unit within the facility, DDT members are the leaders and experts in skin and wound care – constructively synthesizing nursing, nutrition, and physical therapy.  They act as an invaluable educational resource for their peers, taking a proactive approach to skin and wound care innovations. In furtherance of these goals, a “Dermal Defense Education Day” (DDED) has been introduced as an annual twelve hour training event.  Team members select the topics to be presented at various stations, develop the educational materials, and assist in staffing them.  The CWOCN mentors them throughout the process. Topics have included: “Can you dress this wound?”, an interactive station where attendees can discover a wound on the body and address its treatment; “Wound Care Jeopardy”, an interactive game wherein the attendees test their knowledge on various aspects of skin and wound care; “The Price is Right”, where knowledge of the costs of various hospital supplies is challenged; and “The Wheel of Wounds”, where knowledge of pressure ulcer staging is examined.  Educational posters are displayed, including visuals for a pressure ulcer initiative in the operating room and one for increased intra-abdominal pressure.  Specific topics are based on staff requests, solicited via an informal survey.  The DDED is formatted so all three shifts can attend.  Evaluations of the event are collected and analyzed by team members, who modify the presentations as evidence warrants.  This educational enterprise encourages all of the staff to be actively involved in skin and wound care and it reinvigorates the DDT to continue to champion an integrated approach to wound care.