NURS 6540 Week 8 Discussion: Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities

Nursing homes have become a viable option for geriatric patients who require routine care and need help performing basic activities of daily living, with about 3.3 million patients residing in nursing homes in the United States (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2013). While nursing homes provide care and services to patients, problems can arise resulting in reduced quality of care and, in some cases, illness and morbidity. The severe implications of pressure ulcers make them a major concern for elders residing in nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (2013) estimate that 7.5% of nursing home residents have pressure ulcers and about 82,000 patients develop them each year. In your role as the advanced practice nurse, you must understand factors that contribute to the incidence of pressure ulcers in order to improve patient outcomes.

For this Discussion, you examine the prevalence of pressure ulcers in nursing homes and develop strategies for increasing awareness and reducing incidence.

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To prepare for NURS 6540 Week 8 Discussion: Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities:

Review Chapter 32 of the Resnick text and Chapter 12 of the Holroyd-Leduc and Reddy text.

Select four nursing homes in your community and/or neighboring communities. Research and locate reports on these nursing homes through organizations such as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Compare the four nursing homes you selected based on reported cases of the development of new pressure ulcers.

Think about factors in the nursing home setting that contribute to pressure ulcer issues, such as patient activity, nutrition, or the number of staff available to care for patients.

Research guidelines for the prevention of pressure ulcers. Think about how you might increase awareness among nursing home staff about the incidence and consequences of pressure ulcers in patients.

Week 8 Assignment 1: Application – Diagnosing and Treating Skin Wounds

Skin wounds are sometimes challenging for health care providers to diagnose and treat as many have similar presentations. For advanced practice nurses, being able to identify various types of skin wounds, including whether a wound is a colonization or an infection, is critical because it impacts recommended patient care. In your role, you must be able to evaluate skin wounds, determine the diagnosis, and develop an appropriate treatment and management plan according to current evidence-based guidelines.

To prepare:

Review Chapter 46 of the Resnick text, as well as the Burr article in this week’s Learning Resources.

Consider how to properly diagnose skin wounds in frail elders, including how to distinguish between a colonization and infection.

Select a type of skin wound, such as bumps, bruises, shingles, herpes, bullous pemphigoid, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, etc. Research the guidelines for treatment of the skin wound you selected. Reflect on how you would treat and/or dress this wound.

Think about factors that might contribute to the development of the skin wound you selected. Consider strategies for the prevention and improvement of this type of wound.

To complete:

Write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:

Explain how to properly diagnose skin wounds in frail elders, including how to distinguish between a colonization and infection.

Describe the type of skin wound you selected.

Explain how you would treat and/or dress this wound based on guidelines for treatment.

Explain factors that might contribute to the development of the skin wound you selected. Include strategies for the prevention and improvement of this type of wound.

By Day 7

This Assignment is due.

Note: The School of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The Sample Paper provided at the Walden Writing Center provides an example of those required elements (available at http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates). All papers submitted must use this formatting.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

Please save your Assignment using the following naming convention: “WK8Assgn1+lastname+first initial”.

Click the Week 8 Assignment 1 link.

Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK8Assgn1+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open. If you are submitting multiple files, repeat until all files are attached.

Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

NURS 6540 Week 8 Discussion: Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring Communities