Wounds International & Wound Care Insights: Beyond the Surface

Laura Swoboda reflects on her journey in caring for patients with wounds and ostomy, emphasizing the significance of her educational experiences. She discusses the science behind wound healing and its influence on her clinical practice. While optimizing patient health remains a priority, she explores strategies for collaborating with patients to achieve the best outcomes. The role of social determinants of health is examined and how they can be integrated into everyday practice.

Professor Karen Ousey and Professor Sebastain Probst explore the complexities of wound care in palliative care, addressing the challenges faced by patients, families, and healthcare professionals. A significant aspect of palliative care involves managing skin changes at the end of life. These changes can be distressing and difficult to address, requiring careful consideration and compassionate care.

In this podcast, Professor Karen Ousey and Hollie Robinson, the service lead for tissue viability, discuss the implementation of a virtual wound care formulary. Hollie delves into the challenges they faced during its implementation and how they successfully overcame them. The initiative has led to positive outcomes, including a streamlined formulary for all areas, a reduction in waste, and significant cost savings.

In this podcast, Professor Karen Ousey and Dr Leanne Atkin, Vascular Nurse Consultant, explore the inspiring journey of Leanne’s career. Leanne explores her professional and personal experiences that shaped her path from student nurse to an internationally recognised highly skilled nurse consultant. She offers valuable advice on following your heart to achieve your career goals and emphasizes the importance of finding a good mentor who can support you, listen to your ideas, and provide constructive criticism along the way.

In this podcast, Professor Karen Ousey and Dr. Gillian Rayner explore the importance of self-compassion in the high-stress area of healthcare. Often, healthcare professionals focus so intently on patient care that they neglect their own well-being. Gill discusses the concept of self-compassion and the challenges that healthcare professionals face in cultivating it. She provides practical strategies for incorporating self-compassion into daily routines and examines the role that organizations can play in supporting this essential aspect of healthcare.

In this podcast, Professor Karen Ousey and Susy Pramod, a tissue viability matron, delve into the management of malignant wounds. Susy shares insights from her daily work with these intricate wounds, emphasizing the critical importance of addressing both psychological and physical needs of patients and their families with compassion. She illustrates the significance of dedicating time to patients and families through examples from her own practice, as these wounds are often extensive and complicated. 

In this podcast, Karen Ousey and Joy Tickle, a tissue viability nurse consultant, explore Joy's remarkable career, from her early days as a student nurse to becoming a nurse consultant and her recent experiences as a patient. Joy talks passionately about her dedication to wound care and her 27-year journey as a tissue viability lead. She candidly reflects on her recent time as a patient, sharing her feelings of identity loss, guilt, and paranoia. Joy emphasizes the importance of appreciating the patient's perspective and the necessity of providing clear, easily comprehensible information to patients.