I hated wound care in PT school. Didn’t ever pique my interest. So when I went into OncoPT, I told myself I wouldn’t be seeing patients with wounds.
WRONG.
My very first solo eval had severe radiation burns – guess what? A wound. And just one of many I have seen so far in my career.
We will see wounds in OncoPT. So even if we’re not wound care PTs, we still need to know what to do with these patients.
Here’s how we can help patients with wounds/skin care issues (even if we’re not exactly wound care PTs):
- Check for skin issues
- Educate patients on potential skin issues & what to look out for
- Educate patients to adhere to their skin plan of care
- Make sure garments/other things aren’t exacerbating current skin issues (bras!)
- Check out AnaOno Bras – one of my personal favorites is the Monica bra (affiliate link).
- Get patients connect with the right practitioners
- BONUS: check out Aubrene Fiore’s presentation on Wounds & Skin Care at the Virtual Oncology Physical Therapy Summit (affiliate link here) – you can still get access until April 2022 with your ticket!