Newbie needing advice

Specialties Wound

Published

Hi everyone,

Looking for advice. I am fairly new to wound care, when doing a full body assessment and measurement I feel nervous assessing wounds alone and staging them without a more experienced RN. I am currently not certified. (they are paying for WCC eventually..) Does anyone have any advice or resource materials for a newbie. Or any words of wisdom?  

Thank you everyone.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatrics, Wound Care.

If you have education, go through the NDNQI modules. The newest one NDNQI 8.0 is available on our HealthStream (the education system my hospital uses). I think it was really nice and informative. Good explanations, descriptions, photographs. More than _just_ pressure injuries.  WCC may take a little time since they require years of experience as a wound care nurse I believe. May be better off as a CWCN (or CWOCN if you want ostomy and continence).

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

NDNQI 8.0  Pressure Injury Training is available here:

http://learning2.pressganey.com/ndnqi/copyright/2021/576852/story.htmlPosted advice re wound assessment + care here:

 

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Specializes in Home Health.

I agree with the posts before me, do online training.  I was super nervous staging when I first started. I carried around a pocket book for staging them LOL! I could refer to it PRN.  

But honestly, the more you do it.. the more comfortable and confident you will become!

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Specializes in Hospice.

Here's a link to my favorite pressure ulcer staging resource:

https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/sites/default/files/2020-10/SKIN apple poster HSC final 10.20.pdf

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Specializes in Hospice.

Become familiar with the current wound care products that your facility uses - look up the manufacturer sites for specific info. When you encounter a new product, learn about it. 

I also recommend looking up your facilities wound related procedures and becoming familiar with them. It's so important to establish good infection control practices when you start working with wounds - it's much harder to integrate them into your practice later.

Also, figure out an organization system for performing a wound assessment that way things don't get overlooked. Checking for pressure areas behind ears anytime a patient has a nasal cannula (and especially if they have glasses and/or hearing aides as well!).

Not sure what environment you are in but anticipate what supplies you might need. For example, if you are in a SNF assessing new admissions, making sure you have a couple washcloths and a towel if you might need to perform some skin care for skin folds to see what you really have going on. 

Good luck! Wound care can be really interesting! 

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