Wound Care Nurse

OVERVIEW

Provides care that will quickly and safely heal various types of wounds, including surgical openings, ulcers, bed sores, feeding tube sites, and abscesses. The wound care nurse will access the wounds, create and implement treatment plans, monitor infection and signs of various infections, and clean wounds.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Maintain a Comprehensive care plan for skin impairments- updating as needed to include any change in treatment, improvement and/or decline
• Weekly wound rounds with wound consultant
• Weekly wound measurements documented
• Review investigation for all new skin opening related to pressure
• Monitoring vascular/arterial/surgical wounds and document appropriately -treatment, comprehensive care plan, coordinating follow-up when indicated & maintain weekly measurements
• Educate and counsel patients and their families on wound care processes and issues
• Demonstrate wound care procedures to other care givers
• Attend morning report, identify any new opening and document accordingly
• Supervising the Rehab CNA
• Work with rehab to evaluate residents who present with a decline
• Attend CMI meeting when appropriate
• Correspond with rehab to determine residents need for positioning devices
• Maintain facility wound tracking report
• Monitor residents with devices to ensure skin maintenance
• Maintain a list of all residents with devices including but not limited to splints or braces.
• Ensure devices are identified on plan of care and worn appropriately via audit tool/rounds
• Attend weight meeting, ensure appropriate interventions to maintain skin integrity
• Provide in-service to floor nurses to ensure awareness related to skin integrity maintenance, documentation and care
• Maintain skin care policy
• Assist in the Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) process

QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION / EXPERIENCE

• BSN or equivalent
• Must be a graduate of an RN nursing program
• Current registration and license to practice as a Registered Nurse in the state employed in
• Peripheral IV certification
• Two years of clinical nursing experience
• One-year experience in a management position preferred
• One-year experience in geriatrics and subacute population
• CPR/BLS certified
• The ability to read, write, speak and understand the English language required, knowledge of other language helpful

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• This position has no supervisory duties.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• This job operates in a health care setting. This role requires regular walking to various locations around the care center.
• Incumbent may be exposed to virus, disease and infection from patients and specimens in working environment.
• Incumbent may be required to work extended periods of time at a video display terminal. Incumbent may experience traumatic situations, including psychiatric, and deceased patients.
• Works beyond normal working hours and on weekends and holidays when necessary
• Must be able to stay or return to facility during emergency conditions

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus
• This position is very active and requires standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, crouching, crawling and climbing all day.
• The employee must frequently lift or move objects and patients weighing over 50 pounds.

TRAVEL

• No travel is expected for this position