Whole versus hole: enabling community nurses to implement holistic wound care.
J Wound Care
; 32(11): 748-757, 2023 Nov 02.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37907360
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To improve wound-related quality of life (QoL) in clients with hard-to-heal wounds in their lower limbs and to increase referrals to multidisciplinary teams in the management of care for these clients.METHOD:
This was a quality improvement project with a two-group pretest-posttest interventional evaluation design. We implemented a package of interventions including the WounDS app, education related to wound care, and client engagement through a QoL self-assessment. Wound-related QoL was measured using the Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule and referrals to the multidisciplinary team were tracked through chart audits. We explored nurses' experiences with the interventions through semi-structured interviews.RESULTS:
Clients' average ratings for 'wellbeing', 'physical symptoms and daily living', and 'overall QoL' improved by 27%, 38% and 54%, respectively. The number of referrals increased by 78% post intervention. Nurses described the interventions as effective strategies that motivated them to implement a holistic approach to care.CONCLUSION:
The project was successful in creating a culture shift to practice holistic wound care. This package of interventions (WounDS app, education and client self-assessment of QoL) led to improvements in the QoL of clients with hard-to-heal wounds. Further studies are needed to generalise the findings. Strategies for sustainability include forming a champion group and providing the education and decision supports based on nurses' educational needs assessment.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Calidad de Vida
/
Enfermeras y Enfermeros
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article