is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Georgie Hollis — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 09:16:40 GMT

Oh No Nat that's a shame. Let us know if we can help - remember you well Nat, you've done a brilliant job with some really challenging cases. It may be a slight tangent but i've recently set up a way for you to share your cases so we can show others how well you've done. If you'd like to give this a go it should be straight forward and we will give you CPD credits for doing it and points towards VWL membership and more CPD. Once you've uploaded your case we have it laid out professionally to use for teaching and you will get a copy. We may even publish them if they show some really good learning points. There's even going to be a badge of honour for the best! Its a bit new so we haven't really promoted it yet but why not start here! I welcome any feedback or ideas to make it easier/better. https://www.vetwoundlibrary.com/share-your-case.html

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Olivia Coulton — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 17:08:28 GMT

I am heavily involved in wound management in my practice and have done the excel wound course

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Nat79 — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 14:05:49 GMT

Thank you, they send the students to me for wound training but don't necessarily want to change what they do. The last thing I wanted to change I had to write a written report showing evidence That maybe the way to go again!

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

shelly jefferies — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 07:25:20 GMT

Firstly well done for you on completing the Delving Deeper course and expanding your knowledge. I can only imagine your frustration at not having the opportunity to be involved in more wound care. I wonder whether there is anyway you could maybe try to "gently" change their practices (if they need changing!)

Do you feel you have been there long enough, and have a good relationship with colleagues that you could maybe suggest you share some CPD notes with the team?? This could be a good way to maybe sew some new idea seeds into peoples minds. Do you have anyone else there who shows some interest in wound care or is receptive to new way, I have found in the past maybe a young vet wanting to make a mark are often receptive to listening to new ideas or trying new products.

Could you make a list of things or areas you can see problems or would like to make changes to improve wound care? if you make a list you could maybe share this with your senior colleagues or if you have them at your performance reviews or appraisals. Especially if you can put down how or what can be done to change or improve the situation and why.

If there are dressings you maybe think you could be missing from your dressings cupboard try speaking to some veterinary wholesalers or companies and see if they would give you a couple to trial, they are normally very helpful and wanting to encourage future purchases. If you can show your colleagues how well these work with a freebie, they may be more inclined to use them or even ask your opinion in the future.

The other thing may be to suggest an in house CPD session post covid. The bandaging angels come out and perform in house CPD on wound management or bandage care, going through all the basics and best practice and also giving an appraisal of your bandage and dressing cupboard. These sessions prove very popular and are great value as all the clinical team can attend and it can be a trigger for people to question why they do what they do and what they could do better.

Hope that helps and I hope you get a good wound soon, in the best possible way ;-)

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Nat79 — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 17:19:45 GMT

I did the BVNA delving deeper into wounds course and then changed practices. My current practice leaves wounds to heal on their own. Ive only really helped with one wound which makes me sad.

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Nat79 — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 17:13:34 GMT

I did the BVNA delving deeper in to wounds course which I loved and then changed practices. My current practice leaves wounds to heal on their own and I've only been involved in one wound breakdown case. I'm really sad about it.

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Emma Leigh — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 21:48:05 GMT

Hi, I was in the first cohort of the ‘Delving deeper into wounds’ course and I really enjoyed it. I try to keep up to date with wound management techniques so I am always on the lookout for relevant cpd.

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Fiona Leathers — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 21:35:24 GMT

Hi Georgie!! Definitely a wound nurse in my practice :-)

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

shelly jefferies — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:51:58 GMT

Hi Katie

I love the term wound geek!!! Well done for carving yourself out a role. We are hoping to provide more cpd in the coming months and hopefully this new forum will be a great discussion and education aid. Please feel free to share any interesting cases and please do ask any questions.

Enjoy getting your geek on

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

shelly jefferies — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:48:20 GMT

Fab, well done on organising your bandaging trolley and also on sharing your knowledge with your colleagues. We often have webinars available to wound library members which provide some excellent cpd and we are hoping this will expand with time especially now we have this nurse only forum!

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Katie Dawson — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:25:14 GMT

I do get the name the wound geek at work I must admit I love it I am desperate to do a more structured certificate in wound care to expand my knowledge. I have had some fantastic cases lately and really enjoyed being proactive in planning care and altering treatment.

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Sammi91 — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 15:02:33 GMT

Hey. Having completed the BVNA Delving Deeper into Wounds course back in 2015, the practice where I work have been really great at embracing what I learned on the course and adapting and welcoming the extra support with wound cases. I haven’t the official title of wound nurse in my practice, but my colleagues, both vets and nurses alike will often ask me to help with and follow up wound cases, which I thoroughly enjoy. I have also been able to do some in house CPD sessions with vets and nurses sharing the knowledge that I acquired on the course. I was able to sort out a “bandage trolley” that separates “prepare, promote and protect” dressings and bandaging materials and equipment, complete with wound charts etc to help with wound care and this has been useful in practice. So thank you Georgie for your expertise and knowledge shared during the course as it has helped our practice a lot!
Am always keen to learn more about wound care and be up to date with the latest wound care information, so nurse specific wound care cpd would be really beneficial. Thank you.

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Georgie Hollis — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 07:30:44 GMT

I'm so glad to hear you Bandaging Angel visit made a difference - that's exactly what we hope we can help you achieve. It's so nice to hear it and coming to teach the team is so important. I've always thought it was very difficult for one person to attend a day course and then go back and relay everything that was learned and that a visit tailored to your practice and the dynamics of the team gets the ball rolling for some trust in a nurse who has an interest. I think your idea about specific wound nurse CPD is spot on we can definitely do this. I will try and private message you as i think a chat would be great just to find out what sort of subjects you think would help most.

We did arrange a course last year which was for communication skills for those leading in wound management in practice. It included how to overcome resistance to new product use, how to handle people with 'old school' attitudes, and how to better 'influence' owners without them realising it for better outcomes. We didn't get any sign ups - but i think as a paid day, that would include role-play to practice was a bit daunting for many! Maybe a range of webinars would be less daunting?

Would love to know any subjects 'woundies' would like covered - we have some lovely people willing to speak for us. :-)

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Cyonica — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 15:36:42 GMT

I don't think I am in any official capacity, but when people have queries about wounds its me they usually come to (though one of my colleagues is an unsung wound hero and is criminally under appreciated!). It's been easier to push for group CPD and share things I've learned rather than trying to take an official leading role (I had the Bandaging Angels come out to us last year and made a huge difference to our wound management and dressing selection decision making - I was previously hitting my head against a wall). I wonder if it would be a good idea to have a VWL membership specific to wound nurses with a support/discussion forum just for them and access to CPD tailored to taking a leading role in wound management?

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in their practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

Olivia Coulton — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 21:20:05 GMT

I do a lot of wound management in practice along with the other nurses. I have been the one that has recently done wound care course last year. I love all wound management even on exotics too. I do get some of the other nurses and some vets ask for advice when they have a tricky one to manage. I usually am the only nurse that manages the exotic wounds and redresses. Depending on the wound depends on what is used I am lucky we are not limited too much to what we can use.

RE: is anyone a 'wound nurse' in there practice! Shout out! - we have a badge for you!!!

raggydoll — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 22:59:50 GMT

I have a keen interest in wound management in my practice and I have a varied case load, many of the vets will pass on wound management cases to myself and a few other nurses in practice. I love the most challenging of wounds and get great satisfaction in their successful management.

I think one of the main points to realise is that every wound and every patient is unique, what works for some, may not work for others. Many factors have to be taken into consideration, for example; client/patient concordance, age and health status of the patient, infection/bioburden, viable tissue and last but by no means least, movement of the wound under dressings preventing optimum healing.

I like to keep things simple, I'm not a fan of lots of fancy dressings, creams and ointments! I tend to use wet to dry daily dressings if debridement of tissue required, once a healthy tissue bed is achieved, I will use hydrogel and allevyn to promote granulation. I tend to redress every 2-3 days depending on exudate. If I get any hypergranulation areas within the wound, I tend to apply a very thin film of betafuse to the affected area only and by the next dressing change the proud area has resolved.