Two years ago, the Visiting Nurse Health System received a surprise call from The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. It seems that an anonymous donor, because of his family’s successful experience with a wound clinic, wanted to give back to the community. He wanted to invest in specialist training for nurses so that more people could have better wound and ostomy care.
“It’s not every day that resources like that come your way, so we wanted to use them for the greatest impact,” said Pat Reid, RN, vice president of development of VNHS, which employs 104 home health staff nurses.
Seeing an increasing number of wounds and ostomies in their patients, VNHS administrators thought that training a few enterostomal nurses — who could be available for staff education and consultation — would be a tremendous resource for nurses and a benefit to patients.
The answer of where to get the best training turned out to be right in their back yard. The Emory University School of Medicine’s Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing Education Center is one of a handful of certified WOCN programs in the country.
“It was an added bonus to have this resource right in our town, and the director, Dorothy Doughty, is a highly respected expert and great person,” Reid said.
“It’s a phenomenal program and very well-rounded because, after 20 years, Doughty has so much experience in all three specialty areas,” said Lea Crestodina, MSN, GNT, CWOCN, CDE, assistant program director and 1995 graduate of the program. “As the population ages, I believe our specialty will grow. Skin, like other organs, will give out over time.
“Pressure ulcers are common in elderly patients and physicians can now do colon re-sections on much lower areas of colon, so we’re seeing more temporary and permanent colostomies.”
“Wound and ostomy care is not for every nurse, but this is an area where expertise can change a person’s life,” Crestodina said. Patients with new ostomies are in shock and grieving over the horrendous thing that has happened to them, she explained. Many think they won’t be able to deal with it.
“When you can encourage them and educate them so that they can adapt and go on with their life, it’s so rewarding,” Crestodina said.
Wound care nurses are employed by many hospitals, home health agencies, outpatient surgery clinics and nursing homes to provide care and staff/patient education. With more than 2,000 wound care products on the market, a general doctor or nurse would have a hard time keeping up with the latest research and practices.
“It’s a diverse and autonomous role that involves clinical nursing, education and data collection. A wound nurse might be called to any area of the hospital to make a recommendation,” Crestodina said.
Emory’s Center accepts nurses who have a baccalaureate degree and at least one year of clinical experience into its nine-week programs, which include five weeks of lecture and four weeks of clinical experience working in wound clinics. Students who come from outside Atlanta or out of the country may do the four weeks of clinical work with an approved preceptor in their home locations.
The center also offers a distance learning course where students complete computer modules in up to 15 months, take a proctored exam and then do a week of training in Atlanta. Costs run from $3,550 to $4,100.
“Our foundation grant paid for the training and salary of three ET nurses, but that still wasn’t enough to bring everyone up to speed on wound care,” Reid said. “Doughty came up with the idea of a wound care boot camp for VNHA nurses which was a perfect solution.”
The boot camp allows small groups of home health care nurses to go through an intense week of wound care education and clinical experience.
“Consistent care and documentation is so important in wound care, especially when you have different nurses seeing the same patient,” Reid said. “Now everyone here is singing from the same songbook.
“Our nurses are out in the field by themselves, so they’re thrilled to have this extra training and support. It sets them up for success and is good for our patients, so it’s a win-win situation.”
To learn more about Emory’s Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing Education Center, call 404-778- 4067.