{"id":48755,"date":"2020-11-10T17:05:53","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T17:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/?p=48755"},"modified":"2020-11-10T17:05:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T17:05:53","slug":"new-sci-nurse-specialist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/new-sci-nurse-specialist\/","title":{"rendered":"Our new SCI Nurse Specialist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet Damian Smith, who joins us from The Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury, where he was the tissue viability lead and focused on a holistic approach to skin care for spinal cord injured patients.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

SIA: We\u2019re thrilled to have you on board, Damian! Tell us a bit about your background. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>DS: <\/strong>I\u2019m based in the south west and have worked for 25 years in various parts of the spinal centre in Salisbury. For the last 17 or so I was based in outpatients, doing a community liaison role as the centre\u2019s tissue viability lead. I\u2019m first and foremost an SCI nurse specialist; the skin care focus came about out of necessity really \u2013 because the majority of SCI patients I was supporting in the community had pressure ulcers. I would coordinate all elements of the care pathway, liaising with the GP, DNs, tissue viability specialists, the plastics team if necessary \u2013 as well as working directly with the injured person on skin care and prevention.<\/p>\n

SIA: What advice would you give an injured person regarding skin care?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DS: <\/strong>Firstly, that prevention is always better than treatment. Please don\u2019t under-estimate the impact a pressure ulcer can have on your life. Check your skin twice a day: before you get up and when you go to bed. It takes seconds but this routine can have a massive impact on preventing pressure ulcers. If you see a red mark on your skin, do take it seriously. A couple of days\u2019 bed rest now could save you weeks, months or even years of enforced bed rest in the future. By relieving pressure on the mark, you can stop a grade 1 pressure ulcer becoming more serious. Because don\u2019t forget that what you see on the skin is often only the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

Think about your daily routine and how you can relieve pressure \u2013 there are so many more options now than when I started out in my career! Contact the SIA Support Line for more details on this \u2013 and speak to your wheelchair services team about annual pressure mapping updates for your chair, because your posture will change over time.<\/p>\n

Part of rehab is about building up your skin\u2019s tolerance to pressure \u2013 but this is affected by so many factors: age, posture, illness, diet. For example, any underlying infection with a raised temperature can affect the skin\u2019s tolerance to pressure and can increase the risk of skin damage. Or if you hurt your shoulder and have to adjust your transferring technique, this could have a knock-on effect on your skin.<\/p>\n

In terms of treatment, surgery is really a last resort, so it\u2019s important to think about your protein intake to maintain your skin\u2019s integrity and help it to heal. I recommend a multivitamin supplement too \u2013 as well as a blood test to rule out any deficiencies that may slow down or prevent healing.<\/p>\n

SIA: One of your first challenges at SIA will be developing the new SIA Academy Pressure Ulcer Study Day for healthcare professionals. Based on your experience, how important is this sort of training?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DS: <\/strong>When I first took on the tissue viability lead at Salisbury, I was surprised by how many requests for support from tissue viability nurses I was getting. But I soon realised that, although they were experts in wound care, they didn\u2019t necessarily have the knowledge about SCI that would help them support injured people to prevent pressure ulcers deteriorating or recurring. It\u2019s the holistic approach that is so important: considering lifestyle factors such as diet, posture, seating, transferring, ageing, bowel and bladder management, etc. If you don\u2019t understand the cause, you can\u2019t remove it. I never thought I\u2019d be teaching tissue viability nurses about pressure ulcer prevention \u2013 but I know they were always very grateful to have the support so we could work together to improve people\u2019s quality of life. I think that\u2019s what this study day will be about: sharing best practice so that we can reach more people and prevent more pressure ulcers.<\/p>\n

Damian is our SCI Nurse Specialist covering the south west and can also give advice on skin management. To contact him and other members of our SCI Nurse Specialist Team ring our Support Line on 0800 980 0501 or email <\/strong>support@spinal.co.uk<\/strong><\/a>.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Download our factsheet for more information: https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/pressure_ulcers<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Damian Smith, who joins us from The Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury, where he was the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":739,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[231],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/739"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armanios.co.uk\/dev\/sia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}