June is National Wound Care Awareness Month. There are almost seven million Americans who suffer from non-healing wounds nationwide. Chronic wounds have the potential for severe health risks including infection and amputation. At Hillcrest Hospital South we care deeply about the well-being of our patient’s skin. We provide cutting-edge wound care services on both an inpatient and outpatient basis.
Inpatient Wound Care
One of the recent quality improvement projects for our facility has been to reduce hospital acquired pressure injuries. Several interventions were implemented to help us accomplish this goal. We strive to identify high risk patients early and implement prevention measures within the first 24 hours of the hospital stay. The inpatient wound team follows high risk patients throughout their stay providing ongoing assessments and adjustments to the plan of care as needed. Other early skin interventions include skin assessments on ER patients pending admission, by the wound team, to ensure their comfort and offloading needs are addressed.
A certified wound care nurse is on call seven days a week to answer questions and provide support to the bedside nursing team. The condition of the skin is also addressed by floor nurses each bedside shift report and during hourly rounding. High quality skin care products are utilized including offloading devices and high-quality support surfaces. All patients with a Braden Score of 18 or below are consulted by the wound team to ensure that all appropriate measures are being utilized to protect the patient’s skin from pressure injuries.
With the implementation of the above interventions our facility has had zero hospital acquired pressure ulcers in the past year.
The Advanced Wound Center
Our outpatient wound center is a state-of-the-art facility that has won multiple awards for Center of Distinction and Center of Excellence over the past five years. These awards are based on maintaining quality metrics and high levels including healing rates and patient satisfaction above 92% and median days to heal less than 30.
We have an experienced staff of wound care professionals dedicated to helping our patients heal and return to the highest possible quality of life. Our medical director Ronald Brown, M.D., and our nurse practitioner, Lori Ormsby, are wound care certified as are many of our facility nurses. Our outpatient facility works hand-in-hand with our inpatient team to ensure continuity of care for all wound patients in need.
The Advanced Wound Center at Hillcrest South also offers Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), a treatment utilized for the most serious wounds. HBOT is a medical treatment where a patient breathes 100% oxygen while in a pressurized chamber. Large doses of oxygen are dissolved into blood or body tissues at these pressures. This increased oxygen promotes wound healing by:
- Increasing blood flow and oxygenation to wounds
- Stimulating small blood vessel growth
- Promoting new skin growth
- Helping to fight infection
At Hillcrest South, we provide aggressive wound healing techniques with a gentle touch to provide a treatment program that is just right for you.
By sharing the importance and availability of chronic wound care, we can make a positive impact in our communities. We are 100% committed to treating the whole patient and our focus is on saving both limbs and lives.
