Senior Specialist Nurse in Wound Management Sue Harris is one of only seven UK nurses who have won a wound care educational scholarship awarded by KCI Medical Ltd. They will spend a week in San Antonio, Texas, at the company’s HQ at the end of October attending workshops and visiting healthcare facilities to see how both wound care and bariatric services (obese patient services) are provided. There will be presentations from key U.S. clinicians outlining their research, practice and clinical outcomes of their work.  The seven UK nurses will also be giving presentations and sharing their wound care knowledge.

Wound care covers a wide range of conditions relating to patient’s skin tissue, including chronic complex leg ulcers and non-healing wounds.  Patients range from babies to the very elderly and there can be many reasons for the wounds including burns, post-operative wounds, poor circulation and failure to heal due to a variety of reasons, including smoking.

Bariatric patients can have problems relating to obesity which can lead to skin tissue conditions that need “wound” care. As obesity is on the increase, so are the health problems that it brings. Obese people can have wound complications that can take longer to heal – which is sometimes due to poor blood supply to fatty tissue.  Sue will take this opportunity to find out howbariatric services are delivered in the USA and feed this back to the Trust’s Minimal Handling Team.

Said Sue: “I’m very excited by the opportunity to develop and share my practice, skills and knowledge in wound management both with U.S. and U.K. wound care peers.  I feel that learning new clinical skills will impact positively for our patients at the Trust.”                                                                                                            

Sue will also be sharing her own clinical skills with the other specialist nurses and their hosts.  Last year she gained a HighlyCommended recognition for Innovation in Wound Care in a national award. She holds a BSC Honours in Tissue Viability and is now working her way towards a Masters Degree in Advancing Practice in Tissue Viability.  At the Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust Sue is responsible for training all ward nursing staff in wound management, and this includes teaching medical students.

She said: “Twenty years ago there were very few dressings and very little was known about wound care.  There is a much, much better understanding now and there are lots of treatments available.  One of the exciting developments has been the “suction” approach. This involves stimulating the blood supply to the affected area – and removing excess fluid - by the use of a special foam dressing and portable suction pump.  It is so versatile that a patient can carry on with their normal life while it is doing its job.”

Sue, of Staines, qualified as a nurse at North Middlesex Hospital, Edmonton, in 1986.  After a further three years she moved to St. Peter’s Hospital as a senior staff nurse on a medical ward where they were the first ward to introduce the innovative use of maggots to clean wounds during 1996-98. Sue become Deputy Head of Practice Development in the Trust in 2001 and, fulfilling her ambition to specialise in tissue viability, she moved into wound management in 2003.

She said: “My interest developed during 10 years of seeing wounds on the wards. I have always been fascinated by how the body heals itself, how we can help to heal it and how the body changes itself.  And, there is the added dimension of how wounds can change a person’s body image.”

Sue has only been to America once before. Together with a health care assistant she repatriated a female patient toWashington, and then flew home the next day.

She said: “I am passionate about improving my own knowledge so that I can contribute to bringing about positive changes that will improve patient care.  This is a great opportunity and I’m sure there will be a lot to learn.”