title: Spica cast care: a collaborative staff-led education initiative for improved patient care.
abstract: One of the most challenging aspects for nurses caring for incontinent children in spica casts is maintaining healthy skin integrity. Noting an increase in the number of phone calls from parents of discharged children in spica casts concerning diaper rash and skin breakdown, inpatient orthopedics staff nurses lead an interdisciplinary quality improvement and educational initiative. They standardized pediatric spica cast care and education by creating an intranet narrated PowerPoint presentation for staff and parents of children with spica casts. A take-home DVD of this education module is now produced and given to parents, reinforcing nursing discharge teaching and giving parents the opportunity to review these new skills at home as needed. The purpose of this article is to share this experience of improving patient outcomes and empowering other orthopedics nurses to develop creative educational solutions.
authors: Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Cynthia
authors: C
authors: Reed
authors: Lee
authors: L
authors: Carroll
authors: Susan
authors: S
authors: Baccari
authors: Herminia
authors: H
authors: Shermont
mesh_terms: D002370:Casts, Surgical; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing; D006801:Humans; D016530:Orthopedic Nursing; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D000078329:Workforce