Detailed skin assessments?

RN403, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2015

If your hospital utilizes a wound care nurse they would be a great resource. I always read their notes which helps me match descriptions to wound/ skin appearances.

tsm007 · Jul 15, 2015

If your hospital utilizes a wound care nurse they would be a great resource. I always read their notes which helps me match descriptions to wound/ skin appearances.

I work in a nursing home and work weekends only right now until my kids all go back to school in the fall. There isn't a wound care nurse here either. I can look at other nurses' notes, but thus far not super impressed with charting by some of my coworkers so I'm trying to look for outside sources.

RN403, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2015

I see. You might try a health assessment book similar to what would be used in a health assessment nursing course as there is usual a section pertaining to the skin and abnormal skin findings. At least there was one in my book.

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · Jul 15, 2015

They can be overwhelming! I don't have an amazing system... Yet.

I have a new admit kit, so to speak. I keep a pencil box with a ruler, notepad, etc so when I need to do an admission, I can grab it and bring it in the room.

The easier thing for me is to divide a piece of paper in four and then make notes accordingly. Left upper corner will feature notes on left arm, left scapula, left chest, etc.

Right lower corner would be for notations on right leg, right groin, right buttock, etc.

It's not foolproof, but it helps me organize my thoughts somewhat better. I've seen coworkers do skin assessments where they wrote their notes on gauze wrappers. They had a hard time later deciphering those writings :)

I always bring someone in with me, if at all possible, when I do a new admit skin assessment. It's so helpful; especially if you end up needing to measure multiple surgical scars, incisions, and pressure areas.

Anyways, hope some of those tips helped you:)

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · Jul 15, 2015

Also, there's pressure ulcer training online.... I forget who it's by, I'll look it up and post in here. It's pretty informative. If you get any admits with diabetic ulcers, DTI's, or PU's, going through a training module like this would help immensely.

tsm007 · Jul 15, 2015

They can be overwhelming! I don't have an amazing system... Yet.
I have a new admit kit, so to speak. I keep a pencil box with a ruler, notepad, etc so when I need to do an admission, I can grab it and bring it in the room.
The easier thing for me is to divide a piece of paper in four and then make notes accordingly. Left upper corner will feature notes on left arm, left scapula, left chest, etc.
Right lower corner would be for notations on right leg, right groin, right buttock, etc.
It's not foolproof, but it helps me organize my thoughts somewhat better. I've seen coworkers do skin assessments where they wrote their notes on gauze wrappers. They had a hard time later deciphering those writings :)
I always bring someone in with me, if at all possible, when I do a new admit skin assessment. It's so helpful; especially if you end up needing to measure multiple surgical scars, incisions, and pressure areas.
Anyways, hope some of those tips helped you:)

That was very helpful! Thanks. If you can find that link you mentioned that would be wonderful.

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · Jul 15, 2015

If you google "NDNQI" it's the first result that pops up, I'm pretty sure anyone can take it. Let me know what you think of it:)

tsm007 · Jul 15, 2015

If you google "NDNQI" it's the first result that pops up, I'm pretty sure anyone can take it. Let me know what you think of it:)

That is very cool and yes I could access it. Thank you so much.

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · Jul 16, 2015

I'm so happy! I'm going to run through it again soon myself.