Results of a clinician-led evidence-based task force initiative relating to pressure ulcer risk assessment and prevention.

Integration of research findings into clinical practice is essential for achieving cost-effective, quality patient outcomes. Data confirm that nursing care in most settings is "empiric" and is based largely on untested assumptions, as opposed to being evidence-based. Process improvement efforts must engage clinicians in initiatives that promote the integration of research into clinical practice and acceptance of shared professional accountability for sustaining needed change. A clinician-led task force was assembled to identify and apply current evidence to clinical practice in the areas of risk assessment and prevention of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers in the inpatient setting. Data collected prior to and following our process improvement project demonstrated significant improvement in patient outcomes.

Woundoscopy: a new technique for examining deep, nonhealing wounds.

This article discusses a standard gastrointestinal procedure used to visualize sinus tracts in wounds. Sinus tracts have traditionally been visualized externally and probed internally. Because of this, the cause of the nonhealing wound was difficult to determine. Through a series of case studies performed at St. Francis Hospital Wound Care Institute, the authors documented the benefits to patients of a technique they call woundoscopy--endoscopy performed to gain additional information about wounds that have not healed by standard therapies. These benefits include early diagnosis and treatments less traumatic than traditional surgical incision and intervention. Although not a procedure to be used indiscriminately, woundoscopy resulted in positive outcomes. Further research seems warranted.