A week in the life of the Senior Nurse- Tissue Viability
Monday 14th April
Welcome to my week of tweets! I’m Jenni, Senior Nurse, Tissue Viability & I’m based in Dingwall
The Tissue Viability Team have been in post since last summer. #nursing
There are 2 Advanced Tissue Viability Nurses – Karen in Raigmore hospital Sally covering thecommunity.
Anne and I job share the Senior Nurse -Tissue Viability post in the community.
More recently we have two SSKIN Bundle facilitators- Nancy and Helen- more about SSKIN later.
A Tissue Viability (TV) Nurse essentially assesses and treats patients with complex wounds.
The TV service is important as TV affects everyone. From the cradle to the grave, TV will affect everyone at some point in their lives.
The skin is the largest body organ!
We provide specialist evidence based advice and practical support to patients and staff dealing with complex wounds.
We are both a proactive and reactive service.
Had two SSKIN audits this morning – Wade Centre Care Home, Kingussie and St Vincent’s Hospital, Kingussie.
Wade Centre 100%! St Vincents 100%!– nice care plans #happy #winning
Now off to the Royal Northern Infirmary (RNI), Inverness to provide ‘Skin of the older adult’ training.
Great feedback from the session this afternoon!#excoriation #moisturelesions #pressureulcers - what’s thedifference?
For NHSH staff the tissue viability department have uploaded new documents/learning materials to the Intranet site. Have a look!
Or checkout the Healthcare Improvement Scotland tissue viability toolkit @online_his
Tuesday –
Two patient reviews this morning before SSKIN training at Ian Charles Hospital, Grantown on Spey.
SSKIN! #whatdoesitmean
SSKIN= surface, skin inspection, keep moving, incontinence and nutrition.
The acronym relates to staff regularly observing and taking preventative actions to reduce each risk factor.
This aims to reduce the overall risk of a patient developing a pressure ulcer.
Teamwork is vital when dealing with pressure ulcers. #nursing
Off to my next patient to carry out a leg/ABPI (Doppler) assessment#hopeidontgetlost
A Doppler assessment is one part of a holistic assessment for patients with leg ulcers.
Hand held ultrasound technology helps healthcare professionals decide whether compression therapy is suitable/contraindicated for patients.
And it’s non invasive #withorwithoutcompression
Great turn out at the SSKIN training this afternoon! Great discussions afterwards too! #dressings #emollients #barrier
Wednesday
A day in the office this morning – catching up on e-mails, Datix reports and organising staff training.
Hopefully make a start on the latest Tissue Viability PowerPoint presentation ‘Wound assessment & Healing”.
Phone call from a private care home re pressure relieving mattresses.
The Waterlow Risk assessment score can guide staff to which category of equipment is needed for patients. Preventioniskey
Tissue viability team are off to the Drumossie Hotel this afternoon to plan the Tissue Viability Study day in June! #excited #cantwait
Thursday
Early start! A day full of SSKIN audits today!
First stop is the Telford Centre Care Home, Fort Augustus, then on to Invernevis Care Home Fort William.
Oh no!! NHS pool car has a flat tyre. Thank goodness for the nicemaninthetyregarage #good service
Was both care homes very first SSKIN audit today!#welldone! #increasingawareness
Now to see the Fort William District Nurses! Looking forward to meeting them all!
Friday
PDP review this morning – hope I’ve doneenough #personaldevelopment
One of the main elements of our role is providing staff education with the aim to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers in NHS Highland.
We provide teaching sessions to health professionals working in Community Hospitals, District Nurses and also Care Homes.
For NHSH staff you can test your knowledge with the Prevention & Management of Pressure Ulcers module on Learn-Pro!
Another educational resource for prevention & management of pressure ulcers is
2pm – SSKIN audit with Fort Augustus District Nurses
Thank you for joining me this week - have a very good weekend
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