Nursing Care of Lacerations

Nurses play an important role in caring for patients with lacerations. There is a lot of old dogma such as soaking wounds in betadine that need to be rethought. Some of these things just get passed down by older nurses and never get questioned. 

Develop protocols to empower your nurses to place LET on small wounds in pediatric patients. If there is a concern for an associated fracture, get them to order a plain film. When your nurses can anticipate what you may need for a laceration repair, everything can be set up prior to your going into the room. Nurses play a key role in providing good discharge instructions, informing patients when to return and what to look for in terms of complications. All things that increase efficiency and improve the patient's (and clinician's) experience.

My nursing care for lacerations lecture is a free tutorial that gives nurses a good roadmap on how they can help expedite care and help patients better understand what is going on and what to look for after they are discharged. Share this with your staff, get them invested in the process and improve overall patient care.