Medical errors and adverse outcomes related to wound care remain a high-frequency problem. Practitioners must evaluate and manage wounds that may contain foreign bodies, penetrating injuries that my have injured underlying neurovascular or tendon structures, puncture wounds, fingertip injuries, and dirty wounds at high risk for infection. Although litigation related to wound care generally results in small verdicts or settlements, wound complications caused by medical errors resulting in adverse outcomes are high-frequency occurrences. Attention to the details of high-quality wound care and an examination of lessons learned the hard way (i.e., adverse outcomes) can assist the healthcare team in improving patient care while reducing errors and risk in this important area. In this activity, we provide an overview of medical and legal issues associated with wound care and present and discuss a number of cases in order to illustrate the common themes in wound care litigation (e.g., failure to diagnose a retained foreign body, failure to diagnose tendon injury, failure to diagnose or warn about compartment syndrome for injuries near a neurovascular bundle, etc.). After completing this activity, practitioners should be able to: recognize wounds at high risk for foreign body, infection, tendon injury, and other common complications; incorporate information about the mechanism of injury into the evaluation and documentation for wound care patients; create a standard approach to the evaluation of patients with an extremity laceration or puncture wound that includes a complete wound examination (for both foreign body and tendon injury); and assess the value of clear and specific discharge instructions in improving patient safety and reducing the risk of litigation in cases involving wound care.
- Provider:The Sullivan Group
- Activity Link: https://www.thesullivangroup.com/RSQSolutions/course-purchase-home/
- Start Date: 2023-07-01 05:00:00
- End Date: 2023-07-01 05:00:00
- Credit Details: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™️: 2.0 hours
- Commercial Support: No
- Activity Type: Enduring Material
- CME Finder Type: Online Learning
- Fee to Participate: Variable
- Measured Outcome: Learner Competence, Learner Knowledge, Learner Performance, Patient Health
- Provider Ship: Directly Provided
- Registration: Open to all