Development And Implementation Of A Simple Wound Care Guideline For Minor Skin Lesions: A Quality Improvement Project

<p>Purpose: The purpose of this QI project was to use the best available evidence and expert opinion to develop and implement a simple inpatient nursing care guideline for minor skin lesions.</p> <p>Participants and Setting: This wound care guideline was developed for nurses working on inpatient adult acute care units. The setting was a large community hospital in southwest Minnesota.</p> <p>Approach: The guideline was validated for its clarity and appropriateness by external and internal expert wound care nurses. It was implemented through in-person unit rounding on the nursing units, distribution of badge cards with the guideline, and a required online education module about the guideline. Surveys and audits were conducted to measure changes in knowledge and skin care pre- and post-guideline implementation.</p> <p>Outcomes: Wound documentation audits assessing whether patients had an appropriate treatment improved from 45% (104 out of 231) to 80% (209 out of 260). Nurses’ self-rating of their knowledge about which dressings and topical treatment to use improved from 18% (16 out of 89) agreement to 57% (55 out of 96). Nurses’ self-rating of their knowledge about when to change dressings and reapply topical treatments improved from 27% (24 out of 89) agreement to 65% (62 out of 96).</p> <p>Implications for Practice: Although there is evidence for a variety of dressings or products to treat wounds, this QI project demonstrated increased compliance with providing appropriate care when just a few treatment options were recommended to nursing staff through a structured guideline. This guideline continues to be used at the project site and is now being implemented at affiliate hospitals.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Yale University School of Nursing

Year

2019

Author dc:creator

• Bates, Alexandra

Contributors dc:contributor

• Elizabeth Ercolano

Repository record dc:identifier

https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ysndt/1084

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:elischolar.library.yale.edu:ysndt-1083