A Nurse’s Perspective: Getting the Most Out of Wound Care
Nurses matter in wound care. Patients need a healing touch that is singularly focused on their wellbeing. That’s what a nurse brings to wound care.
I have seen patients on the brink of giving up. When it came to their chronic wound, there did not seem to be an answer and they did not see a path forward. It took a nurse to change that. A nurse to provide relief, to bring wellness, and to bring hope.
To create better outcomes for wound care patients, we need to invest in nursing. A model that empowers nurses to deliver specialized, evidence-based care will make a difference for patients and health plans. Better outcomes through improved healing rates will ultimately lower the wound spend for health plans.
When we look at nursing and wound care, there are three areas that we need to focus on to deliver the best results for our patients.
Consistent Quality
Health plans and patients are both looking for consistency in wound care. There is value in being able to accurately predict healing rates and spend. Up to this point, consistent quality has been hard to come by in wound care because there are too many variables.
There is no standardization in the care patients receive. Health plans need consistent quality in wound care to ensure their members receive the care they need to heal and begin their journey to wellness. This lack of expertise and access to wound care certified clinicians creates inconsistent care, delivers sub-standard results including missed diagnoses, longer healing times and over 70% readmission rates for some complex wounds.
We need evidence-based standards of care that bring a consistent experience to patients, so health plans can better account for the health of the populations they care for.
The Right Location
Where patients receive wound care is an important factor in the healing process. When we look at barriers to care, transportation is often at the top of the list. In many cases, patients have to drive a significant distance to receive care. That is not sustainable for patients who lack consistent transportation or have financial constraints. Additionally, patients may have additional transportation challenges if they require a wheelchair, cane or walker. Getting inside a medical facility can create a significant physical burden.
To level the playing field and ensure equitable care, we need to bring wound care into the home. If we remove barriers, patients are more likely to receive the care they need, reducing the nearly 50% no-show rate that wound clinics see. The right care in the right place can improve outcomes for patients and create a more consistent wound spend for health plans.
Elevated Training
Beyond standards of care and location, a third element contributes to inconsistent quality in wound care. Too often, the nurses delivering care, even in complex cases, do not have specialized wound care training. Even the best intentions are not a replacement for wound care certification and experience.
There are approximately 9,700 wound, ostomy, continence, and foot care certified nurses nationwide. Compared with 8.8 million chronic wounds per year, we need more wound-certified nurses that can deliver care in the home. That means an investment in training and then putting them in a position to deliver a healing touch.
Wound care is unique in healthcare. Nursing plays a disproportionate role in healing patients and delivering better outcomes. To maximize the role of nursing, we need to develop consistent standards of care that empower wound-certified nurses to deliver a high level of care in the home. That will allow patients and health plans to get the most out of wound care.