Certificate Course on Pressure Injuries: Advanced Strategies for Prevention, Assessment & Treatment – Heidi Huddleston Cross

Pressure injury prevention, assessment and treatment. This is such complex and specialized care to provide to patients. There are co-morbidities to consider, rising costs, ever changing regulations and increased scrutiny. Do you feel confident you are up-to-date on the latest evidence that should be guiding your pressure injury decision making?

Prevention

As a frontline health care provider, you play a critical role in preventing pressure injuries from ever occurring – or not developing again. This course will provide you with the most need-to-know knowledge to effectively achieve your goals in a cost effective and evidence-based manner. Discussion will focus on the best in pressure injury prevention, including: risk factor reduction, standards of care, root cause analysis, support surface options, nutritional factors and repositioning frequency.

Assessment

Once a pressure injury develops, it is critical that it is promptly identified and assessed so proper treatment can begin. Rest assured….you will get everything you need to know when it comes to pressure injury staging, recognition of wound infection, avoidable vs. unavoidable wounds and the ability to differentiate pressure injuries from moisture associated skin breakdown.

Treatment

Once a pressure injury has been thoroughly assessed, the appropriate treatment plan needs to be implemented as quickly as possible to avoid deterioration and complications. You will take away the best knowledge and insights in pressure injury treatment, to include: wound bed preparation, debridement options, the newest product selection options hitting the market, cost-effective considerations, and when antimicrobial dressings should be used.

In addition to all the clinical insights to be gained, valuable documentation tips will be shared so that going forward you appropriately reflect your practice, protect your license, and avoid legal risks. You are guaranteed to increase your confidence, effectiveness, and career opportunities with this Certificate Course on Pressure Ulcers. Sign up today…to advance your overall wound care practice, improve patient outcomes, and receive a certificate of professional recognition!

1. Explain the best pressure injury prevention practices, using the most up-to-date guidelines.
2. Evaluate pressure injury risks based on extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors.
3. Explore optimal measures for skin and nutrition maintenance.
4. Recommend the current best practices related to repositioning and support surface selection.
5. Examine proper wound assessment techniques and practices.
6. Analyze the current controversies surrounding the staging of pressure injuries.
7. Recognize wound infection and other complications.
8. Differentiate between avoidable and unavoidable pressure injuries.
9. Explain the importance of proper wound bed preparation.
10. Explore evidence based wound care dressing selection.
11. Appraise advanced wound dressing and therapy options.
12. Criticize documentation examples to learn how to avoid legal pitfalls.

Pressure Injury Prevention

Evidence Based Guidelines

• National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel
• Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society

The Etiology of Pressure Injuries

• Mechanical load: Magnitude and time
• Mechanisms that lead to tissue damage

Risk Factors and Risk Assessment

• Assessing risk using the Braden Scale correctly
• Intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors – you need to know
• Skin and tissue assessment

Practice Tips for Prevention

• Skin care: Moisturization is key
• Repositioning frequency: Is it really every 2 hours?
• Get those heels up!
• The RIGHT surface at the RIGHT time

The Role of Nutrition in Pressure Injury Development

• Lab values
• Avoiding unintentional weight loss

Pressure Injury Assessment

Wound Assessment

• Look at the whole patient, not just the hole in your patient
• Necessary elements of wound assessments
• Decisions, decisions: Is it incontinence associated dermatitis or a pressure ulcer?

Pressure Injury Staging

• Deep tissue injury and medical device related injuries
• Controversies
• STAGING QUIZ!!!

Wound Infection and Complications

• The emerging role of biofilms
• NERDS and STONEES – huh?
• Sepsis
• Osteomyelitis
• Malignancy
• Recurrence

Avoidable vs. Unavoidable Injuries

• Skin failure
• Kennedy Terminal Ulcers

Skin Changes at Life’s End (SCALE)

• F-Tag 314
• WOCN document
• Antibiotic therapy

Pressure Injury Treatment

Wound Bed Preparation

• The principle of TIME
• Importance of cleansing
• Debridement: What works, when and how

Basic Wound Dressings

• The importance of moist wound healing

What needs to be on every formular

Vendor support and caveats

Advanced Wound Dressings and Therapies

• When do we need to step it up and to what?

Antimicrobial dressings

• There are so many……how to choose
• Silver
• Honey
• Hydrofera Blue
• PHMB

Iodosorb

• Dakin’s Solution and vinegar (yes, we still use it)
• Hypochlorous Acid
• Sorbact

Collagen dressings

• Negative pressure wound therapy
• Other modalities

Surgical Repair

• Skin grafts vs. flaps

Documentation Tips

• What you need to know and what MUST be in the record
• Examples of good documentation
• Tips to keep yourself out of court