Abstract
GENERAL PURPOSE: To provide information about a study using a new process for continuous monitoring to improve chronic wound care quality.
TARGET AUDIENCE: This continuing education activity is intended for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and nurses with an interest in skin and wound care.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES: After completing this continuing education activity, you should be better able to:
1. Recognize problems associated with chronic wound care.
2. Identify methods used in this project to improve care.
3. Illustrate the findings from this and similar projects and implications for providing improved wound care.
ABSTRACT: Patients with chronic wounds require complex care because of comorbidities that can affect healing. Therefore, the goal of this project was to develop a system of reviewing all hospitalized patients seen by the study authors' wound care service on a weekly basis to decrease readmissions, morbidity, and mortality. Weekly multidisciplinary conferences were conducted to evaluate patient data and systematically assess for adherence to wound care protocols, as well as to create and modify patient care plans. This review of pathology and the performance of root-cause analyses often led to improved patient care.