Wound Care Certified Nurses, Randy Crawford (left) and Heather Hires Holton (right) demonstrate a wrapping technique as well as offers foot care advice to Ms. Dot Coleman, a diabetic, who volunteers with the Wayne Memorial Hospital Auxiliary.

Jesup, GA - Wayne Memorial Hospital has always known about the importance of wound care and in fact, added a physician-based wound care program to its rehabilitation center a little over a year ago. Now, hospital and rehabilitation management decided to go a step further to expand the wound care services offered at Wayne Memorial by sponsoring the “wound care certification” of two current registered nurses on the rehabilitation staff.

Wayne Memorial Employees Heather Hires Holton, RN, WCC, and Randy Crawford, RN, WCC, became Wound Care Certified Practitioners through a program provided by the National Alliance of Wound Care (NAWC). The certification, which requires 40 hours of educational classes, pass or fail competency testing and steep training fees, teaches nurses specialized patient charting, product education specifics, wound care prevention, as well as advanced techniques which can actually promote faster healing. The certification also exceeds the standards set by normal governing regulatory agencies such as The Joint Commission and those that regulate Medicaid and Medicare programs.

“Planning and providing treatment for patients with complicated wounds, pressure ulcers and/or patients with the potential for these types of problems is our responsibility. Our goal is to assist each patient in achieving his or her best when it comes to wellness,” said Holton. “Wound Care Certified nurses work as an important part of a team at WMH in the management of serious and long-lasting wounds, and are actively involved in the management and prevention of pressure ulcers.” WMH is a hospital-based rehabilitation facility, which offers all traditional therapies along with more options for patients, including a higher number of visits for Medicare patients.

Patients have the right to choose the rehabilitation center they want to use. However, not all rehabilitation centers offer wound care, certainly not wound care certified specialists. Patients needing wound care are often referred to WMH from physicians inside and outside the local service area. Some types of wounds treated include: post-operation surgical dressings, acute wounds (serious skin openings), diabetic wounds, arterial wounds (wounds with not enough blood flow to the area), and chronic wounds (wounds that last more than three months). “It’s amazing when looking at our own documentation on a patient to see the difference in the healing process when we use our products and techniques,” adds Holton. “You can actually see some patients heal faster and I credit the information learned from our wound care certification training.”

According to statistics there are only 8,000 nurses in the entire country who have received the elite Wound Care Certification. Wound Care Certified Specialists, like those found at WMH, often employ services of other professionals to create a team approach to wound care. Registered Dietitians will review patient charts and referring physicians along with the WCC Specialist will often send special needs patients to other specialists like plastic surgeons, vascular surgeons, or podiatrists as needed. “A benefit to becoming wound care certified is having access to other specially-trained nurses in our field across the country so we can share ideas and discuss treatment options and give feedback to one another. We can do this without breaking any privacy laws by discussing the symptoms and case issues rather than the patient,” said Crawford. “When patient care is in question, it is so much better to discuss treatment options with physicians and other experts at the top in their field.”

Diabetic education and screenings are another important aspect of what a wound care certified specialist does on a daily basis. “Diabetics need to keep blood sugars in check and make sure to check shoes for paper, pebbles, and debris daily,” says Crawford. “Diabetics often lose sensation in their feet gradually and skin break down can occur easily and without notice so prevention is the best medicine.”

“We are so pleased to have both Heather and Randy on the Rehabilitation staff. We were very excited when they both showed an interest in becoming Wound Care Certified Specialists,” said WMH Outpatient Rehabilitation Director Jackie Butler. “Most products we use are common in wound care facilities. However, the key is having people who are specially-trained and knowledgeable on what to do with those wounds and those products.”