Pressure ulcers: understanding the challenges of promoting quality

Pressure ulcers affect quality of life and general wellbeing, and create significant difficulties for patients, their carers and families. Pressure ulcers are associated with morbidity and mortality, and prove costly for healthcare providers. This article identifies the Government’s quality agenda and the importance of maintaining, developing and delivering quality care for the prevention of pressure ulceration

Do we understand health-related- quality-of-life outcomes?

Last year I was afforded the opportunity of investigating Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) outcomes for patients with wounds, through a Florence Nightingale Travel Scholarship. Since my return from Australia, I have been thinking about how we identify and enhance HRQoL outcomes for the range of wound conditions that we see and treat in clinical practice

General elections — a new era for health care and tissue viability?

This has already been a busy year for practitioners, with Accident and Emergency departments full, hospitals closing to non-emergency admissions and elective surgery being cancelled. In addition, all the political parties are using the NHS as a priority area for the upcoming general election. Health care and its funding continues to be an issue that dominates headlines, with each political party promising it will be safe in their hands. But what are the major parties promising

Nurse education 2015: what is changing?

Quality With Compassion: The Future Of Nursing Education report by Willis (2012) identified that the move to an all-degree nursing profession could not be held directly responsible for poor practice or the perceived decline in standards of care. Nor did it find any evidence that degree-level registration was damaging to patient care

Exploring resilience for people with type 2 diabetes who have a wound

Comorbidities related to diabetes such as chronic wounds can increase the need for surgical procedures, with at least 10% of all patients undergoing surgery having diabetes. Being diagnosed with diabetes can be seen as a risk factor for developing wound healing problems. Discussion: This short report highlights the potential positive influences gained from providing resilience education and self- management education to people with type 2 diabetes, potentially enhancing self-managing abilities and reducing poor wound healing. Summary: Modern wound care practice is centred on symptom reduction and working with pathology; however, working with people to enhance their personal resilience and promoting positive psychological adaptation can impact positively on their mental health

Exploring Resilience When Living with a Wound — An Integrative Literature Review

The psychological impact for patients with wounds can be significant, and adverse psychological effects frequently occur when there are permanent changes in the body’s structure or function. Evidence suggests that anxiety, depression and stress can adversely affect the wound healing process. An integrative review examined any paper that discussed any patient in any health care setting who had experienced a psychological impact from the experience of having a wound and the experience of being resilient in that context. Ninety nine papers were located in the initial search with twelve meeting the inclusion criteria and being reviewed. A review of the papers identified that improvement and maintenance of quality of life was perceived to be an important aspect of patient management, but none focused on resilience as a primary endpoint. Further research is required into the clinical benefits of resilient behaviours in patients living with a wound