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Empowering residential care home staff to manage patients with skin tears: reducing the need for unscheduled district nursing visits

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Empowering residential care home staff to manage patients with skin tears: reducing the need for unscheduled district nursing visits

Maggie Mangan, Sara Shoreman
12 September 2021

Skin tears are traumatic acute wounds that continue to increase with the aging population and the associated physiological skin changes. They are known to cause significant pain, affect quality of life of patients and lead to large amounts of unscheduled and scheduled visits for the district nurses, as well as inappropriate call outs for the paramedics. These type of wounds occur mainly on the arms and legs, they are both preventable and respond well to early intervention. South Warwickshire Foundation Trust TVN’s started a three month project, where residential homes carers would be taught how to prevent and manage skin tears, only referring to the district nurses if the wound developed complications. Documentation including care plans and a skin tear first aid box were provided to each home. The project resulted in 93% of all skin tears managed from injury to healing by the residential home. Improving the resident’s quality of life, empowering residential home staff, reducing unscheduled and scheduled referrals into the district nurses and callout for paramedics. The project is now being rolled out to all care homes across South Warwickshire Foundation Trust.

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