title: The WOC nurse: economic, quality of life, and legal benefits.
abstract: Patients who require treatment for complications stemming from skin and wound care conditions represent a significant and costly clinical problem in the health care arena. An innovative approach used to manage these patients is utilization and employment of the specialty trained wound, ostomy, and continence (WOC) nurse. A review of the literature supports the role of the WOC nurse in providing quality care, minimizing the expenditure of health care dollars, and overseeing the use of pressure ulcer and wound care guidelines so that litigious events may be avoided.
authors.affiliation: Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Ft. Gordon, GA, USA.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Kaufman
mesh_terms: D005242:Fecal Incontinence / Q000451:nursing; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D010030:Ostomy / Q000451:nursing*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000451:nursing; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D017592:Skin Care / Q000451:nursing; D013041:Specialties, Nursing / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000451:nursing; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000451:nursing*