Summer is a great time to get out and enjoy the sun and fine weather. But for those of us living with a stoma, it can also be a time of challenges. Stomas are not always comfortable and they can make you feel quite self-conscious.
How do you stay cool and comfortable when it's hot outside?
This time last year, we were still under strict lockdown rules imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We were unable to meet friends and family indoors. We could only socialise outdoors in groups of six. And children had only been back at school for a few short months.
After a successful event last year, MASD Awareness Day is back.
And from now on it is set to be celebrated on an annual basis.
Maintaining healthy skin is a key objective of care in many healthcare settings across all age ranges. But this is especially true for skin which can easily become damaged through dehydration, friction, adhesive products or exposure to bodily fluids.
Keep reading to learn more about Medi Derma-S barrier cream and discover why healthcare leaders wouldn’t use anything else.
The winter season can be difficult for ostomates; it’s cold outside and seems like everything we do is a battle against the weather.
Read More >Understanding incontinence. Incontinence is the unintentional leakage of urine, faeces, or both. Studies indicate that there are between three and seven million people with some degree of urinary incontinence in the UK. Prevalence of both urinary and faecal incontinence increases with age.
Read More >Around 13,500 people have stoma surgery each year. This means approximately 1 in every 500 people in the UK are living with a stoma.
Read More >It’s important for healthcare professionals and patients alike to be aware of moisture-associated skin damage (MASD). This can occur when the skin is exposed to moisture for long periods of time. That moisture can be from a great many sources (sweat, urine, saliva, wounds, etc) and can lead to a variety of problems like skin irritation, breakdown and infection.
Read More >The structure of the skin
The skin is the largest organ in the body, with a surface area of 2m2, and has multiple functions1.
At Medicareplus, we pride ourselves on our values; our commitment to quality patient care is at the forefront of everything we do. We believe that providing reliable, trustworthy products and education for healthcare professionals is the key to improving patient care.
Read More >
Laura Hallas Hoyes, Nurse Consultant from South West Yorkshire Partnership Trust (SWYPT)
Medicareplus – lead by Arpana has kindly helped sponsor our last conference in November. They have provided valuable support in terms of launching our MASD Pathway with their presentation and the variety of products that staff will use in line with the policy. They have provided knowledge and clarified questions with staff which will improve patient care. They have readily supported our service in terms of teaching and product familiarisation. With this, staff are now more updated with the appropriate products to be used for better patient outcomes.
Medi Derma- S and Medi Derma-PRO product ranges are cost-effective, easy to use , and effective for different MASD issues. It has shown promising preventative use and management of various kinds of PU.
Jose Alfred Batalla, TVN, Homerton Healthcare
Jade Wagstaffe, Tissue viability nurse specialist East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust
Julie has worked with us on a couple of projects in her role as Clinical Nurse Specialist with Medicareplus. She is reliable and supportive and an excellent educator. Julie has been able to teach various members of staff about skin integrity through a number of routes including ward-based training and link nurse meetings.
Thanks to Julie we were able to complete an audit on our moisture-associated skin damage pathway, which was presented at a conference in the form of a poster and we have been following up on some of the actions from the audit.
This would not have all been possible without the support of Julie and Medicareplus.
Alexandra Bishop, Lead Nurse Tissue Viability, Derriford Hospital
"Kerry is an integrated part of our training and without Kerry’s support patients would not be cared for by competent care staff that have a awareness of what to look for, how to care for or how to prevent moisture damage, which in turn has improved patient outcomes and reduced district nursing visits."
Natalie Mccarthy, Training and Education Coordinator from South West Yorkshire NHS Partnership trust
Laura Cummings, Tissue Viability and Physical Health Nurse from Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation NHS Trust (TEWV)
The Skincare Roadshow was a very interesting workshop, the experts' speech, the advert materials, and the environment were superlative.
I have noticed that skin care has been a passion for you all.
Laura Baractaru, Night Care Leader
Old Station House
"The introduction of S.M.A.R.T. has supported our nursing staff by providing a clear but straightforward tool to help them identify moisture-associated skin damage, establish the severity and manage it using an appropriate barrier product. For patients this support offers the benefit of early intervention in preventing and managing what can be a debilitating problem"
Pia Prince, Tissue Viability Nurse Specialist, University Hospitals Plymouth.
Lyndsey Metcalf, Assistant Practitioner from Northern Care Organisation
In March 2023 we organised a link nurse study focused around the theme Moisture Associated Skin Damage (MASD). As part of this day Kerry (Medicareplus Rep) came to present sessions on MASD, Medical-Adhesive Related Skin Injury (MARSI) and barrier products. Kerry tried to apply her presentations to our pediatric population, with case studies and imagery, which can be difficult.
All the sessions were impactful on staff. A discussion was commenced between staff. Kerry supported learning with a small MASD quiz with imagery. Staff is now ensuring that their areas are stocked up on products and they are used appropriately.
All staff commented on how great it was to have other speakers during the day and also how useful the MASD and barrier products sessions were. They highlighted that they had never had this teaching previously and how much it made sense. It was delivered in a down-to-earth, easy-to-understand format with practical demonstrations.
Outcome & Next steps:
MARSI – Liftez trial on PCCU and rolling practice and products out around the trust.
Further teaching to be opened out to all staff throughout the trust.
Sarah Jones, Paediatric Tissue Viability Clinical Nurse Specialist
Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Julie has supported the Eastern Care Services Team with training on MASD, either face-to-face or via MS Teams presentations. Feedback is always positive and her previous experience as a nurse and tissue viability specialist nurse is often noted here as beneficial; as Julie has a wealth of examples to draw on when training. Our team trains care staff from either the residential, supported living and domiciliary services, and Julie’s training complements our own continence management, catheter care and pressure ulcer prevention training.
One of Julie’s key attributes is her friendliness and non-judgemental disposition. She makes the training environment friendly and non-threatening. The care staff feel safe to ask questions which leads to a conducive learning environment. I always enjoy sitting in and listening to Julie’s sessions and often learn something new myself and I have adapted my own training style to include elements from Julie’s style.
K. Knight, Specialist Nurse, Royal Devon University Healthcare
Thank you for the wonderful training yesterday. I have with me brand new nurses and senior care staff who were very excited, grasped every minute of it and went home contented with the resource speaker’s knowledge of their subjects and products.
Thanks for providing such informative and useful training to our community making a big difference to our resident’s care. More power to you and your team
Wil Santos, Clinical Lead Nurse, Cherry Tree Nursing Home
I just want to say what a fab roadshow! It was full of so much useful information, please can you keep me updated when there will be another one taking place as I have lots of other staff that would benefit greatly.
Kelly Luckhurst, Assistant Manager, Two Trees Caring Home
Hazel Jeffery, Nurse Practitioner & TVN Link Nurse from Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT)
The training session was really beneficial to support the care homes and community staff, and was well received by all who attending, also good for networking and supporting other services’ and to add the training was a ‘hit here’.
Carrie Lincoln, Clinical lead adult bladder and bowel service
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
Wendy Stainrod, Pharmacy Technician from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
"I was able to watch the presentation on moisture damage a few weeks ago and found out about the S.M.A.R.T cards I have since received mine and have shared the information with the community continence team. This is an easy to use and store (in my work bag) so I can share information with patients (where suitable) and primary care givers to ensure the most suitable products are being used for patients with moisture damage to prevent severe skin damage. I have not had to use it in this way yet but it is helpful to have as easy access."
Doreen White, Tissue Viability Support Nurse, Livewell South West, Plymouth.
Liz Lock, Wound Care Nurse from Barnsley CCG
Joanne Taylor, Tissue Viability Service Lead from Rochdale Care Organisation
Julie Batemann-Limmer recently supported our #STOPthePressure day in Plymouth. Julie visited 4 Nursing Homes with myself to provide education on the prevention of pressure ulcers.
Julie provided games, prizes and information packs for the homes we visited. The staff within the homes showed a keen interest and were very interactive. I feel this was due to Julie’s approachability and the interaction aids provided.
The day was a real success. The day highlighted that the Nursing Homes needs were actually around the management of moisture-associated skin damage. Julie’s teaching was clear and concise. She was able to provide the home’s staff with clear instructions on the most appropriate products and how to use them.
Julie really made this day a success and I wanted to complete this form to show our appreciation for Julie’s support and on this day as well as her ongoing support throughout the year.
L.J Mallett, Tissue Viability Assistant Practitioner, Livewell SouthWest
Invaluable training to our staff to educate them when to identify the need to step up/step down and escalate to a RGN, has improved their education and confidence and the standard of care our patients receive. The educational sessions are extremely informative and delivered exceptionally well empowering staff to recognise is skin is deteriorating.
Staff have confidence in the products.
Outcome & Next steps:
Training to be a rolling program to ensure all staff attend and receive refreshers when needed
Sarah Wright, Team Leader Community Agile Pharmacy Service
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
"The S.M.A.R.T. card is easy to use very clear and is a great reminder for which product to use and when."
Sandi Sherman, Care supervisor from Bluebird Care, Devon.
“The SMART card allows staff to be proactive in commencing the right treatment for their patients in promoting skin integrity. As it is on a wipe able card, staff can easily refer to it in their clinical area, thus avoiding any delays in starting the appropriate skin care regime.”
Annemarie Graf, TVN Specialist Nurse, UHBW NHS Foundation Trust (University Hospitals Bristol and Weston).
Louise Marshall, Community Nurse Practitioner from Gateshead NHS Trust
The Tissue Viability Specialist Team at Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust would like to thank Medicareplus for collaborating with us on the launch of the Total Barrier Protection range in showing each Ward how to use it and when to use the products. As a Trust with three hospitals, this was no easy feat!
We highly appreciate all the work that has gone into this launch from yourselves and would like to say a big thank you to Izzi, Chris, and the team for all their hard work in putting this together and coming onto our Wards throughout the Trust even at night!
We have received valuable feedback from the Wards to say that they all had a great response to you all coming onto the Wards. They would especially like to thank you for visiting our night staff and as this was the first time any company has come along on a night, so thank you.
We now look forward to a continued working relationship with you all for the future in using your Medi Derma-S range throughout the Trust, helping us to keep our patients safe.
Cerys Stowe and HHFT Tissue Viability Team, Hampshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
“We use the Medi Derma- S Film and Cream and the Medi Derma-PRO products and we've had some really good results on patient skin with using those. Medicareplus Intl. have supported us when we launched the products on 12 formularies and provided a lot of education to clinical staff both in the community and in the hospital.”
Debbie Houghton, Tissue Viability Nurse for South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
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