The Wound Management Clinic is a nurse-led clinic that is guided by the National Wound Care Strategy programme which promotes excellence for every patient, every time. Our ethos within the clinic is to treat everybody with respect and dignity, takinginto consideration personal circumstances.
Our team comprises of a mixture of Registered Nurses, a Registered Nursing Associate and Healthcare Assistants, who promote positive clinical practice through ongoing multidisciplinary assessments, shared decision-making, intervention and documentation; all of which must occur to facilitate optimal wound healing.
Our healthcare practitioners consistently promote person-centred care and independence, through the holistic management of venous leg ulceration. Our clinic is highly praised and commended by staff and patients alike.
In tandem with our regular daily clinic, a new weekly clinic was initiated by one of our Healthcare Assistants: The Leg Maintenance Clinic. This was because of noticing trends amongst patients with leg ulcers who were not maintaining good care of their legs postdischarge from our care as they might not have the ability to do so. This new clinic supports these patients by providing them with assistance in maintaining skin integrity so that they feel confident enough to continue this at home. This is a great example of innovation and best practice to promote optimal person-centred care.
To further develop our knowledge and understanding, staff liaise with company representatives to learn more about new clinical products and formularies. Working with other specialists in the field allows our team to facilitate their learning and promote best practice through new innovative products and methods. This, as well as working with our local Tissue Viability Team, allows us to provide the most up-to-date care for our patients.
Not only this, but our team are constantly encouraged to expand their skillsets. As a result of our team constantly developing their skills and furthering their own knowledge, they can impart this on the rest of the team and demonstrate their extended skills within the clinic, such as: conducting Doppler assessments, toe pressure assessments and applying compression therapy.
Our practitioners have developed a close working relationship with local General Practitioners (GPs). We liaise with them to provide our patients with prescribed treatments, such as: antibiotic therapy, compression hosiery and medicated creams. As Nurses, District Nurses and Podiatry services.
We are also currently working closely with the Research Team participating in their latest research study: VenUS6 (a randomised controlled trial of compression therapies for the treatment of venous leg ulcers). This study is also in partnership with universities and higher education institutions so a collaborative approach is required to achieve the best outcomes to promote patient care.
We also host placement learning opportunities for Nursing students from local higher education institutions to provide them with broad clinical experiences that will help facilitate their learning. Our team support students by cascading their contemporary knowledge and encourage spoke opportunities with other healthcare professionals.
Contact:
Sally Oxley
Clinical Team Lead
Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
[email protected]
01209 318069