In This Issue of JWOCN
Although ostomy care remains the heart of WOC specialty practice nursing, supporting research is sparse. Fortunately, the Journal has received a growing number of articles that have significantly enriched our knowledge of ostomy care and begun to fill important gaps in supporting evidence. This issue is no exception.
The Ostomy Care section opens with a wide scope, systematic review of the literature by Stacy Recalla, Kim English, Rishma Nazarali, Samantha Mayo, Debbie Miller, and Mikel Gray. You will want to read this article, which provides a comprehensive and updated review of existing literature in this essential component of our specialty practice. Kate Zimnicki reports results of a retrospective review of preoperative education and stoma site marking in a general surgical population. You will want to read this article to increase your understanding of the gap between best practice and day-to-day clinical practice and the real or imagined barriers that perpetuate this gap. Jo Hoeflok, Julia Kittscha, and Paris Purnell provide a comprehensive review of existing literature concerning the use of convexity in pouching. This article qualifies as must read for every WOC nurse faced by pouching challenges in the patient with a complex peristomal plane.
This issue's Wound Care section opens with a Quality Improvement project that measured prevalence, mortality, and the use of prevention measures associated with hospital-acquired pressure ulcer in an acute care facility in Sweden. You will want to read this article not only to compare your facility's pressure ulcer prevalence but also to gain further insights into the use of prevention measures in these patients. Jeong Sil Choi and Seungmi Park summarize results of a study evaluating awareness and reported practice patterns among Korean WOC nurses. Similar to Zimnicki's report, this article is important not only because of its description of various antiseptics for wound care, but also because of the insights it provides into a gap between best practice and current practice.
Jean M. de Leon closes this issue's Wound care section with a case series describing the use of negative pressure wound therapy for management of wounds complicated by enterocutaneous fistulae in a long-term care setting. You will want to read this article to evaluate the potential value of the 3 novel techniques for managing these complex and challenging wounds.
This issue's "Challenges in Practice" feature article also provides a case illustrating the use of negative pressure wound therapy, in combination with urinary drainage via a nephrostomy in a patient with a vesicocutaneous fistula. You will want to read this article to increase your knowledge of wound management in patients with this uncommon form of fistula.
Health literacy is an underrecognized but profoundly significant problem influencing multiple health care encounters. Donna Bliss, Cheri Rolnick, Jody Jackson, Casey Arntson, Jean Mullins, and Kenneth Hepburn report results of a study that evaluated health literacy needs of lay care providers and patients with incontinence-related skin damage. You will want to read this original research report to improve your knowledge of this underappreciated component of care delivery and determine how you can improve your educational materials to better serve your patients and their lay care providers.
Winsome St John, Susan Griffiths, Marianne Wallis, and Shona McKenzie report results of a study that evaluated strategies used by working age and older women for management of urinary incontinence. This article qualifies as must read not only because of its lucid description of self-care strategies used by these women, but also for insight into clinically relevant strategies used by older versus working-aged patients.
The WOCN Center for Clinical Investigation continues its series on instrument selection. This valuable installment authored by Catherine R. Ratliff and Vicki Haugen provides a guide for selecting a health-related quality-of-life instrument for persons with an ostomy.
Finally, the WOCNCB continues its ongoing series on preparation for certification with a feature focusing on prevention of test anxiety before testing. This article will interest every nurse who experiences anxiety or hesitation when preparing for a certification examination.