Multidisciplinary Teams for Wound Care Rehab
Chronic wounds are on the rise in hospitals. Experts say that with the appropriate interdisciplinary action, wounds can be detected and treated with wound care rehab at an early stage so that patients can heal and go home quickly instead of festering unnoticed or incorrectly managed, turning into a story of suffering.
Why it’s necessary
It’s a typical story; a patient is admitted to a hospital for a particular issue. In the meantime, he has a wound, but the primary physician treating his issue is not the expert in chronic wounds, so it doesn’t get the proper wound care rehab. After it’s too late, they call in the vascular surgeon, and it’s a long road to recovery.
Another story: a patient comes into a hospital because he has a chronic wound condition. However, even the expert doctor can’t figure out how to treat it. In this case, there’s a physical therapist on staff who offers some insight from her profession, and they quickly treat the problem.
Wound care requires a multidisciplinary team of professionals to quickly diagnose the treat the problem. Without the various professional health care providers to carefully consider the situation, it may not get the care it needs to heal.
There are actually many different types of wounds, from burns and ulcers to diabetic wounds and many more. A rounded team of experts to weigh in on each individual condition has the best chance of determining the root of the problem and managing its care optimally.
How to make it happen
Hospital and facility directors, along with staff physicians, need to organize a proper team of treatment staff to deal with wound care patients. When a patient exhibits a wound, wound care rehab protocol should require a number of staff physicians and therapists to examine the wound and work together to find a solution for the problem.
It’s not easy to make these kinds of changes. Key players from all areas, from the top down, have to be on board with making it happen and creating a positive change. This may require a workplace collaboration where staff meets and everyone gives over their views and is heard.
Nursing facilities are often the game-changer here, as they deal with wounds more routinely and acutely than hospitals, and when they do it right, they can provide the essential data that hospitals need to create an accurate protocol.
Seeing results
There may be some other points that need to be addressed while these changes are being made to develop a real plan of action for wound care rehab.
One is the quality of treatment materials. Facilities may have certain products or brands they’ve been using for years and not realize that newer, more effective products are now on the market. At prescribed times, an appointed staff member should scout out new products that might be helpful for wound care rehab.
Another point is continued training and education. Whoever is on the wound care rehab team should have ongoing training in the most advance and state of the art practices for rehab.
Many institutions have already done this, and they are seeing the results in fewer wound problems and quicker treatment times.
At Hudson View, we’re always on the lookout for cutting edge advances in our healthcare services, including multidisciplinary teams for wound care rehab. See how we can help.