From nurse education, clinical, or workforce issues through to healthy living, Nursing Review has it covered.

New guiding principles for preventing pressure injuries launched last week are part of a wider project including developing a national approach to reporting pressure injuries.

Investing in a national prevention programme could save 30,000 New Zealanders suffering a pressure injury each year, recommends a major report. The KPMG report, The Case for investment in: A quality improvement programme to reduce pressure injuries in New Zealand, was released recently by the Health Quality & Safety Commission, ACC and the Ministry of Health.

Seventy-five years after the ‘wonder drug’ penicillin saved its first patients, we could be heading toward a post-antibiotic era in which common infections once again kill. Nurses have both a vested interest and a vital role in preventing this. FIONA CASSIE reports.

NURSING REVIEW talked to nurse researchers and an infection control nurse specialist who share stories of fighting infection before antibiotics, the 'H-bug' epidemic of the 50s and today.

Checking the feet of diabetes patients may be some of the most effective wound care a nurse can provide. FIONA CASSIE finds out more about how to prevent and detect the early signs of foot ulcers that can see people losing toes, feet and even legs.

From whitebaiters in gumboots to a women wearing their favourite boots: nurse REBECCA ABURN shares some case studies from the frontline of diabetes foot care.

Venous leg ulcers (VLU) are an ‘orphan disease’ in which nurse researcher Dr Andrew Jull has a longstanding interest. He talks to Nursing Review about his team’s latest VLU research project – Asprin4VLU – his first, and one of New Zealand’s first ever nurse-led, randomised, controlled trials of a drug treatment.

Debridement can be simple and slow or quick and complex. FIONA CASSIE finds out from wound care nurse specialist Emil Schmidt some of the ‘whys’ ‘wheres’ and ‘hows’ of simple debridement – and when to call in the experts.

Attempts to have pressure injury data regularly collected and reported as a nationwide quality indicator have been unsuccessful to date. But four district health boards decided not to wait for the rest of the country. FIONA CASSIE finds out about the Northern Region’s successful campaign to reduce harm from pressure injuries. 

Keeping nursing procedures up to date can be a tedious and neverending task. For the past three years, however, the five Midland region DHBs have been using a ‘Kiwified’ online nursing procedure service that is shortly to go live across the South Island. FIONA CASSIE finds out more.

Fingers may be small but wounds to them can be disproportionately painful and debilitating. FIONA CASSIE seeks first aid advice for nurses from emergency NP Margaret Colligan on crushed fingers and other common finger wounds.

Every year, more than 20,000 claims are made to ACC for burn injuries. Burn clinical nurse specialists Deborah Murray and Jackie Beaumont see many of the worst of them. FIONA CASSIE gets advice from the pair about first aid and management of minor burns for nurses in the community and discovers there is no such thing as a ‘simple’ burn.

Asking a hospital aide to shower a surgical patient with wound dressings, drains, drips and feeding tubes is no easy step for nurse or aide.

Vulnerability is a common thread through many articles in Nursing Review this edition.

Skin tears affect our most vulnerable – the very old and very young. Wound care consultant Elizabeth Milner outlines a STAR approach to skin tears.

Helping prevent and heal faster debilitating and costly leg ulcers is the aim of the first trans-Tasman clinical guidelines for venous leg ulcers. Two years on from launching the Australasian guidelines, the push is on to get wider implementation. Some of Australasia’s experts in the field provide an update.

PAULA MCKINNEL of the New Zealand Wound Care Society sets the scene for November 21’s worldwide Stop Pressure Injury Day.

Does using maggots on sloughy ulcers make a positive difference?

In the last two years, 170 patients fell while in public hospital care and broke their hips, and 22 of those people died earlier than expected. FIONA CASSIE talks to Sandy Blake about the new national drive to reduce falls and her pilot of a bedside electronic falls risk assessment tool using TrendCare.

No doctors’ appointments ‘til Friday. Why not see the nurse instead? MidCentral is upskilling practice nurses to assess and treat patients who front up to acute care walk-in clinics with minor ailments and illnesses. FIONA CASSIE finds out more

They rarely grab the headlines but thousands of New Zealanders each year get preventable pressure injuries – and some die. FIONA CASSIE looks at new guidelines, the new name, and new efforts to heal this health system scar.

Pressure injuries are one barometer for the quality of nursing care.

FIONA CASSIE talks to New Zealand Wound Care Society president Wayne Naylor about his wound care career, fungating wounds, and a palliative approach to wound care.

FIONA CASSIE talks to Victoria’s doyenne of wound care, Jan Rice*, about new wound science, old-fashioned wound cleaning, and eating to heal.

CLINICALLY APPRAISED TOPIC (CAT): Can elevating the heels help prevent pressure injuries?

When managing malignant wounds a holistic approach is needed, reports Annie May in Australia’s Nursing Review

International guidelines aim to counter rise in pressure ulcers

This month’s critically-appraised topic anlyses the value of silver dressing for wound healing