Managing a skilled nursing facility is a little like being the chief administrator for a small city. You have to deal with residents’ concerns and ensure their safety, you have to manage supply and maintenance logistics, you have to maintain meticulous records, and you have to support a staff that carries out thousands of tasks each day.
One inescapable aspect of operating a skilled nursing facility is wound care. Surgical wounds, pressure wounds, and dozens of other potential wounds are a fact of life for facility residents, and failure to properly manage and treat those wounds can lead to significant negative impacts for both patients and the facility as a whole.
Fortunately, there are a number of wound care management practices that can help remove some of the burden of wound care from your plate. But how do you choose the right wound care specialist?
In this month’s article, we’ll look at some of the things you should look for in a wound care specialist for your skilled nursing facility.
Choose a Wound Care Specialist That Treats Patients First
Do They Treat Wounds or Causes of Wounds?
This one may seem like a no-brainer – of course, you want a partner that will treat patients – but not all wound care management companies operate the same way. Some practices are only concerned with treating patient wounds and never consider the underlying causes.
Whether the patient’s wound is the result of a pressure injury, circulatory problem, or another pathology, simply dressing or debriding the wound and creating the conditions for it to close and heal is only a part of an effective treatment plan.
Your wound care specialist should view wound care as part of an overall standard of care that addresses not only the apparent wound but also the cause of the wound. They should have a team that has experience addressing a wide range of conditions that can lead to wounds and a reliable network of specialists who can address conditions outside of your wound care partner’s scope of care.
Do They Get to Know Your Patients?
Beyond the clinical services involved with providing the standard of care for wound patients, your wound care specialist should also offer excellent personal care for your patients. Nobody likes to be treated impersonally, especially not patients in skilled nursing facilities.
Your wound care specialist should spend time at your facility getting to know your residents. They should listen to them and connect with them as people, not just as patients. Personalized care helps build patient trust, promoting better compliance with the provider’s orders and recommendations. It also improves patient morale, leading to faster healing and better overall outcomes.
Choose a Wound Care Specialist That Comes to You
There are hundreds of wound care clinics that can provide an adequate standard of care for wound patients. Unfortunately, they only provide that care within the four walls of their clinic. Partnering with one of these facilities means that your wound patients will need transportation to and from the clinic for each treatment.
This constant shuttling back and forth to a dedicated wound center has negative impacts on patient outcomes:
- Trips to a wound center disrupt a patient’s routine, which can have significant implications for patients’ mental well-being.
- For patients with mobility issues, just the process of getting into and out of a vehicle can be exhausting, slowing healing and reducing the effectiveness of treatments.
- For more severe wounds, hospitalization and all the corresponding health impacts may be the only option.
When your wound care partner performs clinical services at the patients’ bedsides, your residents’ routines can remain intact, they don’t have to deal with the exertion of travel, and they get to heal in the familiar and comfortable setting of their own room. A familiar and relaxing setting can be the deciding factor in whether a wound heals quickly and thoroughly.
Your residents aren’t the only ones who benefit from bedside treatment. When your patients’ wounds are treated in-house, your transportation expenses, such as fuel and vehicle maintenance, are decreased. Bedside treatment also frees up staff time that would otherwise be spent behind the wheel and reduces the liability associated with patient transport.
Choose a Wound Care Specialist That Works With Your Staff
Do They Make Scheduling Easy?
You have a million-and-one things going on every day, and fitting your wound care specialist’s visits into the mix shouldn’t be a logistical nightmare. Your chosen wound care partners should respect the value of your time and your staff’s time. When selecting a wound care specialist, make sure to ask them how they schedule their visits. If they can’t offer you the flexibility you need, you should keep looking.
On the same note, ask them how they provide continuity of care when a facility’s regular provider is out sick, on vacation, or otherwise unable to make their usual rounds. Some partners will just leave your facility uncovered while your primary provider is away. Choose a wound care specialist with a large enough stable of providers to ensure that your residents are taken care of when their regular wound care provider is unavailable.
Do They Teach Your Staff Proper Techniques?
No matter which wound care specialist you choose, they will only be on-site for a few hours each week. The rest of the time, your patients will be under the care of your in-house team, so your staff needs to know how to manage patient wounds between provider visits.
Your wound care specialist should work closely with your staff to ensure that they know the proper techniques for managing each patient’s wounds. They should provide detailed instructions on how to clean, dress, and otherwise manage the wound to promote proper healing. If an issue arises between scheduled visits, your wound care management team should provide open channels of communication to allow your team to get answers when they need them.
Do They Chart Notes Promptly?
Accurate and prompt charting is crucial in a long-term care setting. Each patient’s chart is both the medical and legal record of their treatments and outcomes and your staff relies on accurate charts to guide their actions.
As you talk to clinical wound care specialists, ask about their charting policy. How soon after a visit do their providers chart their notes? Do they strive to complete them within 24 hours, or do they allow days or even weeks to pass before your staff has up-to-date information to work with?
You should choose a wound care partner who understands the importance of prompt charting and provides your team with reliable notes as quickly as possible, ideally within 24 hours. Your patients will enjoy better continuity of care between your in-house team and your wound care provider, and your facility’s records will be organized in the event of an inquiry or intervention.
Choose a Wound Care Specialist That Offers Non-Clinical Support
A successful wound care program for your skilled nursing facility requires more than clinical support. You must also:
- Maintain appropriate records for compliance purposes
- Offer support in the event of a regulatory dispute
- Bill for medical services provided and code services for insurance
- Provide continuing education opportunities for your nursing staff
- Manage the logistics of wound care services
- Constantly monitor your wound care program’s performance
If you partner with a wound care company that only provides clinical care, you’re not really getting full-service wound care. As you weigh your wound care specialist options, keep the following questions in mind:
- How do you support our recordkeeping operations? Does your EMR platform integrate with my facility’s EMR system?
- Does your team have experience assisting facilities through regulatory interventions?
- Do you provide billing and coding support?
- What educational opportunities or resources can you offer my team?
- Do you offer any analytics or data on your performance in my facility?
You want to ensure that your wound care specialist provides the non-clinical services your facility needs alongside the dedicated and personalized medical care they provide to your residents.
QSM Is Your Full-Service Wound Care Specialist Team
You have many options for choosing a wound care partner, but only one choice offers the best clinical services matched with unparalleled non-clinical support. Our providers work closely with your team to provide exceptional continuity of care and take the time to get to know your patients. We strive to chart notes within 24 hours, and our in-house EMR, QSmartCare, provides not only exceptional recordkeeping capabilities but also actionable data to help you make decisions regarding your wound care program.
Call QSM to Find Out About Our Facility Partnerships and Advanced Wound Care Management Services – 800-226-8874