Pressure Ulcers are a growing target for attorneys bringing claims against hospitals, nursing homes, and doctors. Pressure ulcers are a universally recognized quality indicator, and since 2008 they are part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)...
Flawed and inconsistent wound documentation has serious risk-management implications. This blog post will examine some fine points regarding pressure ulcer nomenclature and documentation. Many definitions and classification schemes for pressure ulcers were developed...
Because of the interdisciplinary nature of wound care, communication is critical to maintain the process of healing. This applies to all types of chronic wounds including pressure ulcers and ulcers related to arterial and venous disease. There are several avenues of...
FACT: Many wound-care products are considered “medical devices” with limited data on efficacy. A new study released by the Institute of Medicine points out that the FDA’s approval process for medical devices is flawed. Medical devices include high profile...
Revised Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 Section M: Skin Conditions greatly expands the process of skin assessment in nursing homes. The accompanying Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) Instruction Manual has instructions on how to identify and code pressure ulcers and...
One of the biggest challenges in caring for patients with pressure ulcers from a risk-management standpoint is determining whether the ulcer was avoidable. The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel has recently come out with a statement that “Not all pressure...
