Care homes Resources

Reflection provides nurses with a systematic way to understand experiences to improve professional development through learning to promote best practice (Horton-Deutsch and Sherwood, 2017). Purposeful reflection can lead to a deeper understanding of the situation and through new learning inform future practice and optimise care delivery (Asselin et al, 2012; Caldwell and Grobbel, 2013), and is used in nursing education and clinical practice worldwide (Galutira, 2018).

A skin integrity prevalence audit was conducted in two health boards in Scotland in 2022, involving 186 care homes and assessment of 6,510 residents. Data collection involved in person and online contact with care home managers and senior care staff by specialist tissue viability nurses and care home support team members. Data was analysed to
generate prevalence rates per 1,000 residents. The findings identified an overall wound rate of 138.6 per 1,000 residents and further skin integrity needs (lower limb oedema) of 79.4 per 1,000 residents. There was variation in the incidence of wounds and lower limb oedema in the two health board settings. This is the first study at this scale and serves as an important benchmark for understanding skin integrity needs in the care home sector. There are important implications for education, training and support of care home staff as well as workforce planning for specialist nursing care to ensure appropriate prevention and management of skin care for residents.

Welcome to JCN’s learning zone. By reading the article in each issue, you can learn all about the key principles of subjects that are vital to your role as a community nurse. Once you have read the article, visit the learning-zone to evaluate your knowledge on this topic by answering the 10 questions in the e-learning unit; all answers can be found in the article. If you answer the questions correctly, you can download your certificate, which can be used in your continuing professional development (CPD) portfolio as evidence of your continued learning.

Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonisation can lead to invasive infection and subsequently harm to patients. The prevalence of MRSA within care homes is poorly understood and, thus, the benefits of implementing a decolonisation regimen across a number of care homes was previously unknown. However, the MRSA prevalence surveillance outlined in this article showed that by proactively identifying MRSA carriers and decolonising residents, levels of MRSA fell from 10.2% in the first prevalence, to 6.8% in the second. The authors concluded that this simple strategy has the potential to reduce MRSA burden and patient harm.