SCIENCE, PRACTICE AND EDUCATION DOI: 10.35279/jowm2022.23.02.03 Skin Tears in an aging population: Workforce empowerment - Evaluation of a First Responder Skin Tear Wound Management Pack Chloe Jansz , Nurse Practitioner/ Healthcare United Nursing Director, Prof Doc. Candidate, LaTrobe University, Healthcare United Annette Ross , Executive Director - Quality, Safety & Innovation, Royal Freemasons Aged Care Sonja Cleary , Professor RMIT University , Dean Learning & Teaching Science & Health Cluster, RMIT University Correspondence: admin@healthcareunited.com.au · Conflict of interest: None Keywords: Aged care wound management, first responder pack, skin tears, unregulated worker ABSTRACT Skin tears are defined as a break in the skin greater than 2cm, also known as cuts, lacerations, grazes or skin tears. Skin tears can occur in many different scenarios, such as a mechanical fall or incidental shear or friction and are most common in the elderly population. 2 The correct dressing choice is required to address coagulation status, infection risk, wound product wastage, pain and quality of life manage- ment for the resident. Sussman and Ryan (2019, p. 11) 9 issued a statement to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety Royal Commis- sion on behalf of Wounds Australia (2019) and not- ed that ‘The major risks of the use of inappropriate dressings are: delayed healing, wound deterioration, potential infection, pain and stress to the consumer. The impact on cost of treatment of using inappropri- ate products is significant’. There are various products in place at present in the aged care sector to manage skins tears. Cur- rently, these options require the skilled nurse to use an aseptic technique and a combination of various products, as well as a dressing pack, to address the complexity of the aging skin. This study evaluated the introduction of a First Responder Skin Tear Wound Management Pack (STWMP). The primary aim of the eight-week project, applied across four aged care sites, was to evaluate the implementation of a first responder STWMP in which any health care worker could apply the correct regime, decreasing the risk of progression of a skin tear to a chronic or complex wound. The results showed a reduction in skin tear time, therefore an increased rate of healing and reduction in staff time, all creating a reduction in the burden of disease that skin tears have in the aged care sec- tor. In addition, it highlighted some design features and early data to inform further research into the impact of pre-education and socialisation of the first responder STWMP in practice. The first responder STWMP clearly has the potential to promote best and early practices for all residents’ skin in a multi- disciplinary team with a resident-centred approach. INTRODUCTION The International Skin Tear Advisory Panel’s (ISTAP) 2018 definition of a skin tear is ‘a traumatic wound caused by mechanical forces, including removal of adhesives. Severity may vary by depth (not extending through the subcutaneous layer)’. 1 (p. 2, para. 1) Skin JOURNAL OF WOUND MANAGEMENT OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN WOUND MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION 60
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