Wound Care
Our Wound Care Program is designed to provide the latest and best medical treatment of wounds, customized specific to the individual patient. We focus on assisting the patient who has had to alter his or her lifestyle due to a recurring or slow-to-heal wound. Our goal is to help wounds heal quickly, ultimately allowing the patient greater comfort and improved quality of life.
We keep the patient fully informed during every phase of the treatment plan, making sure he or she understands the treatment and the reasons behind it. We encourage the patient and his or her family to participate in discussions about the treatment plan. We have found that this approach enhances the healing process.
Each Wound Care team includes a family practice physician, surgeon, podiatrist, nutritionist, enterostomal therapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, pharmacist, and a group of nurses who are specifically trained in wound treatment.
After a comprehensive assessment of the history and current status of the wound, the Wound Care team develops an individualized treatment plan. Throughout the treatment program, specially trained Wound Care nurses implement the treatment and carefully monitor progress.
Web-Based Wound Management Program
A new Wound Management Program is now in place at nine of our Skilled Nursing facilities to assist in monitoring wound treatment and progress. One of our Wound Care experts served as an advisor to Carnegie Mellon University software developers working at Net Health Systems on the development of this important new tool. After three years in development, the program was implemented in August of 2000. This unique, state-of-the-art computer system has proved to be exceptionally useful in helping to monitor wounds, including pressure wounds and diabetic ulcers.
Basically, the system works like this:
Information is entered into the computer about the history and characteristics of the wound, previous treatments applied, the patient's nutritional level, confining diagnosis, body weight, incontinence, allergies, skin condition, and so on.
Periodic assessment of the wound includes a visual inspection. The system analyzes the new data and reports the percentage of improvement or deterioration of the wound and updates information on its status.
The system serves as a means of benchmarking, ensures that no patient has a wound that is overlooked, improves treatment outcomes, and provides consistency — the most important factor in treating wounds.