wo Trumbull Memorial Hospital Wound Clinic ‘Community Clinical— Dr. Weaver Meredith Cavour October 10" 2017Meredith Cavour ‘Trumbull Hospital Wound Clinic On October 10 2017, my Community clinical took place at the Trumbull Memorial Hospital Wound Clinic. Today’s clinic was a foot clinic. There were nine patients on the ropster tobe seen that afternoon in about a three-and-a-half-hour time frame, Most patients are seen once ‘a week, typically. ‘The majority ofthe patients to be seen were diabetics with wound healing issues neither their feet or lower legs. The staff of the wound clinic that day consisted of two RN’s, one physician's assistant and a podiatrist. Since there were so many patients, 1 will just go into detail about a few of the eases, The first patient that we saw was a male in his seventies with diabetes and a wound on his foot, One Of the RN's started the appointment by doing some charting on the patient and their woiind. The other nurse took off the patient's old dressing and cleaned the wound and area around the wound. ‘The nurse also noted the shape, size, color, drainage, scabbing and type of dressing. She took ‘measurements ofthe wound in centimeters and took pictures of the wound. The nurse iold me that they take pictures every four weeks to compare from previous weeks on how the wound has changed — improved or worsened. Demonstrates Communication, Research, Critical Thinking and Teaching Skills ‘Afier the nurses were completed with their part, the podiatrist came in and looked over the ‘wound. She then proceeded to debride the wound. She serapped off any necrotic or dead tissue ‘and got the wound to bleed which would in turn she explained, will help promote the wound to heal. In the case ofthe diabetic, he had such severe nerve damage from his diahetes that he did not feel any of the debridement, The podiatrist said this was very common especially in patients that are non-compliant to medical advice. The doctor told the patient that he needed to adhere to hher medical advice and go back on dialysis due to his kidney failure but he was non-compliant. She explained thatthe patient can’t be forced to do anything of course, but that she must reinforce‘Meredith Cavour ‘Trumbull Hospital Wound Clinic svat Sel We th patie tothe rtlent eve though she none tey Wil Glow hee instructions. She sai that because ofthis he probably would not live long. A very sd but all 100 ‘common scenario that they see every day at the wound clinic. After the podiatrist was done with ther part, one of the nurses dressed the wound and showed the patient how it should be done Properly as well. Another patient was a woman in her sixties, She didn’t have diabetes but she did have peripheral vascular disease, She had a wound on her toc that had callowsed over. After the nurses were done with their part, the doctor came in andl debrided i Once the callous was removed, the doctor noticed that thee was a tiny bone spur that was partially exposed. The doctor decided to cut off a tiny part to be sent to the lab to test for infection. The doctor and nurses explained to the patient and spayed a numbing spray on her toe before they snipped off the bone. There must have \ ‘been something about hearing the bone being cut off that caused me to start to feel ill. | had to take ©" ‘8 seat because I thought I was about to pass out. I thought it was so strange (and embarrassing) _ «2°! . 4 Sere ch ‘because just two weeks earlier I had gone to surgery for Professional 2 clinical and had no issues‘ stall gus tut gpesto shaw bow mos muses have on o two tings iat tote tbem but 1'm hoping I can power through those moments and keep it together. ‘Working at the wound clinic was very eye-opening, It really demonstrated to me how ‘important patient teaching and education is for the overall health of the patient and their wound healing process. Many patients don't filly understand how to properly care oftheir wounds and ‘| for example do negative things to their wounds such as pick atit or not clean or change the dressing“ frequently enough. I'm not sure if this is an area of nursing I could work in daily but it was an excellent learning opportunity and it felt very rewarding helping these people in the community.» \