In This Issue of JWOCN
Based on the popular demand from experts such as you, I am pleased to announce that this issue of the Journal marks the return of our Evidence-Based Report Card feature. Authored by Dea J. Kent, Mary Arnold Long, and Carol Bauer, this must-read Evidence-Based Report Card answers a particularly timely question, does colostomy irrigation improve bowel elimination function and health-related quality of life? Kent, Long, and Bauer follow up this critical feature with a companion article that discusses techniques of colostomy irrigation. Kate Zimnicki also contributes to your "Ostomy Care" section with her report of a quality improvement project that applied a useful QI model (FOCUS-PDCA) to improve the prevalence of preoperative education and stoma site marking in patients undergoing surgery that might or might not result in the creation of a stoma. You will want to read this article addressing a significant gap in the quality of care for many acute care facilities, how to provide timely education and stoma site marking when the creation of a stoma is uncertain, or the surgery is completed under urgent circumstances.
Experiencing trouble managing a long-term indwelling urinary catheter? Would switching to a suprapubic catheter help? This issue's "Continence Care" section opens with a qualitative study authored by Alison Chapple, Suman Prinjha, and Roger Feneley that describes patients' experiences with urethral and suprapubic catheters. This article qualifies as must read for every WOC nurse facing challenges when managing patients with long-term indwelling catheters. Louise Moody and Avril McCarthy report results of a study that used mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to describe patient experiences with leg bags for urinary drainage in patients with indwelling urinary catheters or external collection devices. You will want to read this important study to more fully understand the challenges your patients face when living with a leg bag for urinary drainage and those features your patients consider most important.
The "Continence Care" section closes with a study of knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs among RNs and nursing assistants in the nursing home setting. You will want to read this article authored by Sunah Park, Jennie De Gagne, Aeyoung So, and Dr Mary Palmer to gain more insight into how these factors shape the way we care for these patients and how we might improve this particularly difficult clinical challenge.
The "Wound Care" section opens with results of an important study examining the incidence of surgically acquired pressure ulcers. Joan Webster, Carolyn Lister, Jean Corry, Michelle Holland, Kerrie Coleman and Louise Marquat examined pressure injuries in more than 400 patients undergoing surgical procedures in a busy acute care facility. This article qualifies as must read for any WOC nurse charged with prevention of facility-acquired pressure ulcers, including those acquired following a surgical procedure. Nergiz Ter, Meryem Yavuz, Semih Aydog[spacing breve] u, and Elcil Kaya Bicer report findings from a well-designed study comparing a nonwoven porous adhesive bandage with a transparent film adhesive dressing in patients undergoing prosthetic replacement of a hip or knee joint. This article is an important contribution to the modest but growing evidence base needed to guide nurses and physicians faced with the challenging of preventing medical-adhesive-related skin injury in patients undergoing these increasingly common procedures.
Joyce Pittman, Terrie Beeson, Jessica Kitterman, Shelley Lancaster, and Anita Shelly describe development of an evidence-based position statement for medical device-related pressure ulcer identification and management within their multifacility health system. You will want to read this innovative approach where the authors use the Iowa model for evidence-based practice to promote quality care to address an ongoing challenge.
Both of the Challenges in Practice articles in this issue of the Journal examine cutting-edge issues chronic wound care. Jerri Drain and Michael Fleming describe the use of Manuka honey dressings in a patient with a malignant and malodorous wound affecting the oral cavity. Richard Simman and David Reynolds describe the care of a patient with bilateral ischemic necrosis mistaken for stage IV pressure ulcers. Both articles easily qualify as must read because they provide precisely the type of cutting-edge clinical observations you encounter when called upon to manage the most challenging chronic wounds in your daily practice.