Home Health & Hospice Week

If your staff could use a wound care in-service, the recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wound care presentation may be just the ticket (see stories "HHAs' Oasis Loads LIghtined By One Assessment" and "Top Tips for More Accurate Oasis Coding of Wounds").
 
Wound care specialist Dorothy Doughty from Emory University in Atlanta offered up nearly two hours of wound care clinical information, including how a wound heals.

"The lengthy clinical section was probably the most helpful for home health agencies who may not have access to a WOC nurse and may not have been exposed to that type of detailed information," judges consultant Judy Adams with Charlotte, NC-based LarsonAllen Health Care Group.

Wound healing is important information for the clinician to understand. That's because clinicians who fully understand a wound can work with it to encourage and support the body's own healing efforts, Doughty emphasized during CMS' Internet and satellite training session, "The State of Science in Wound Care Management" on April 23.

Acute wounds caused by injury or surgery result in bleeding and clotting. Clot breakdown then releases growth factors that promote healing, Doughty explained to the audience.

But chronic wounds such as pressure ulcers don't bleed and have no clotting and no release of growth factors. That means they are more likely to need debridement and antibiotics to support healing, she added.

You can watch an archived Internet broadcast of the session by logging in at http://cms.internetstreaming.com and can order video tapes from an address given at the end of the session.