The chronic wound management decision tree: a tool for long-term care nurses.
Skin care and wound management are integral components of practice for nurses who care for frail, elderly, and chronically ill persons. However, "knowing which dressing to use and when to use it can be a mystery for those who lack the opportunity and time to study wound care and thoroughly evaluate the products." In our long-term care facility in Edmonton, it was not uncommon to find that treatment decisions were inconsistent, fluctuating with individual nurses' and physicians' knowledge, experience, training, and preferences. Although the skin problems of residents in our long-term care facility were few in number, we believed that we could provide better wound care. Our goal was to develop a chronic wound care protocol to assist nursing staff in making consistent, correct wound care choices. The Chronic Wound Management Decision Tree is the result of our efforts. In this article we review the development, use, implementation and evaluation of this tool in our long-term care organization.
Knight
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D001458:Bandages; D002908:Chronic Disease; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003663:Decision Trees; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D014945:Wound Healing; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000451:nursing* / Q000503:physiopathology