Podcast Episode 52: Taking a central role in my wound care journey

Hello everybody and welcome to this recording of a podcast for the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation. Today I'm joined by Jane Mays, Clinical Education Manager at Essity and my name is Sam Williams and I'm a Commercial Training Manager at Essity and today we're going to be talking about taking a central role in my wound healing journey. Essity is a Leg Club industry partner and we're also a key supplier in the health and hygiene space and both Jane and I work as part of our health and medical solutions. So hi Jane, today we're going to talk about, as I said, taking a central role in my wound healing journey. Maybe slightly ambiguous of topics for somebody just clicking onto it, however hopefully by the end of this recording people will have a much better understanding of, you know, supported self-care, self-care, and also as a patient taking a central role in your wound healing journey. I think, Jane, before we start, what has been emphasised during the current climate at the start of the global pandemic is that there's a greater need now by patients and also healthcare professionals to get more involved in supporting this self-care initiative. I think that's come as a result of less reliance on being able to visit your local GP or your local surgery and also less access to hospital means that patients generally have had to become a lot more involved in their care where possible. So I'm actually keen Jane to learn a lot more about this and although I work for Esseti, I'm by no means an expert on this topic which is why I've invited you along. So Jane, if you could just start by telling us what your role is and why you are so interested in this topic. Absolutely and thank you Sam. So like you say I'm Jane Mays, the Clinical Education Manager here at Esseti but my clinical background is all nursing so I've done many years of nursing and I think you know it's really important for us to start this with the fact that we're all living longer, which is fantastic. And that's a real credit to the great work that the NHS are doing out there. And by the year 2039, there'll be 3.5 million people over the age of 85, and many more over 100. And it's estimated that nearly 3 million people will be living with three or more long term conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. So it's really important Sam as a nurse that we really do focus on people living well over time with long-term conditions and implementing self-care and being part of self-care, self-management gives people the means to do that, to live well over time and be the centre of their decision making when it comes to their care and the centre of their care delivery. Wow, Jane, you really do summarize that in a really succinct way. And I know you, Jane, and for many years now, we've had lots of discussions about your previous experience in nursing. So it's quite clear to me how passionate about this topic you are. But for people who are listening today, whether they're a member of the public, a member of their local leg club, a general patient who unfortunately is suffering with a wound or even a healthcare professional. Can you actually just tell us Jane a little bit more about what is self-care and what does it really mean to play a central role in your wound healing journey? So Sam yes we need to remember that self-management is not about being abandoned to care for yourself on your own. It's about being supported, empowered, having the ability to be at the centre of your care and help and make decisions and achieve a common goal. So you'll hear clinicians talk about supported self-care, so putting that supported word right in there so that people aren't alone. But yes, the benefit of implementing care yourself is that you are the focus in it. Yeah, that's really, that's really important, Jane. And I think to me, you know, you know, I'm very well connected to the Leg Club Foundation. I'm the representative from Essity as part of the Leg Club Industry Partners Group. And over the years, I've become a lot more aware of what the Leg Club offers. And I think what you've just said there about patients feeling quite abandoned in some cases, unfortunately, but also the benefits, some of the benefits you just touched on there about what supported self-care can actually bring, really does link in quite nicely to the leg club model. You know, the leg club model is offering a psychosocial model of care, not just providing clinical treatment for people who are suffering with leg ulcers or other wound related issues, but also the social aspect which these patients and members often are lacking. So the lead club model is certainly tackling that abandoned type feeling which patients sometimes experience. And I think Essity, along with other industry partners, are always very keen to support the NHS and also healthcare organisations across the globe with new initiatives to improve patient well-being and also general outcomes. But from your perspective, Jane, as a clinician, but also with your role at Essity, What work is being done to help adopt and implement supported self-care in the last couple of years? Well, I think like you sort of went over at the beginning, I mean, it's become so important now that people are at the centre of their care and managing their care, so they need to have access to very credible resources and information, and Essity, along with other industry partners provide this information and resource along with the Leg Club Foundation. There's a lot of information out there, step-by-step guides on how to care for your wound, how to remove dressings, how to cleanse your wound, how to reapply and assess the wound. So there's lots of guides out there but I think it's really important for our healthcare professionals that are listening that actually supported healthcare comes with an assessment and to to look at the ability for that patient to be part of their care. Okay, Jane, again, I think you're touching on some really great topics here and hopefully any patients, members of the public or members of the leg club who are listening and also healthcare professionals are really now starting to get a good flavor of what this really means. But from a patient's perspective or a member of the leg club, what could they expect to experience if they do adopt a supported self-care model? Yeah, that's a really good question. And I think, you know, by implementing self-care, you as an individual are being empowered to care for yourself with support. Look after your wound, own that wound, and be on that journey, like we said at the beginning. But there are some very main ingredients which we need to consider, which will allow supported self-care to be successful. And I think the first one is that you have to be willing, as an individual, you have to be willing to participate in your care. You have to be able to understand what is being asked of you and the care plan that is in place and understand why and the rationale for using a particular process or a particular product. You also need to make sure that you know, which is so important, when to contact your healthcare professional for advice and guidance. So a lot of that credible literature and resource that we talked about really does help you understand when to access the health professional. We talk a lot about the red flags of infection with regards to wounds. So it's important that you really do have the information needed to allow you to access the right resources. Perfect, and thanks Jane again for that really useful insight. I mean, you've talked about some of the really positive aspects here of supported self-care and what that can bring for both patients and also healthcare professionals. But what would you say are the key challenges, Jane? What do people need to know? Yeah, we've looked at the positives. But actually, yes, there's factors that we do know adversely impact on a patient's ability to participate in supported self-care. And one of those is motivation, and I think, you know, very closely linked to motivation is mental well-being and depression can link to that. So it's really important that, you know, a patient doesn't feel that they're being bossed into supported self-care, but it is something that we really do need to empower our patients to do. However, yet, so motivation, self-motivation, self-involvement, the willingness to be part of it is so important and if that's not there then that can really compromise the ability to participate. Another one would be if you've got a high number of co-morbidities so a number of illnesses that you're trying to manage and the whole process then can become quite confusing to you so it's being able to understand again what's being asked and also low income and can be an issue or the demand financially so hot running water, buckets to wash, lower limb, lower limbs in, they're all sort of have a financial link to them. But most importantly, is that individual and others, individuals have the capacity to participate, which we'll look at shortly, so I'm sure. Brilliant, Jane. And thank you for, you know, outlining both the positive aspects of this, but also, you know, it's important to be realistic and outline some of the challenges of implementing this type of care. And you talked about some of the financial aspects there. Again, that brings me back to the leg club and what the leg club offers. You know, I talked a little bit about the psychosocial model of care that the leg club offers. But, you know, one thing that is really useful for members of the public to be aware of patients and also people who are experiencing it now at the leg club they'll you know very much support this message by me that when you go into a leg club what is great to see is that you know you've got that social network building between patients members and volunteers but also the the health care professionals as well but you've also got this great initiative from a clinical perspective where the health care professionals are allowing the allowing the patients to be very much part the treatment which they're being offered and what that means is things like you know patients getting involved in washing their own limbs that part is being talked through within the leg club so when patients return back home if they are involved in a supported self-care type model then the patients are going to be very aware of how to do that because at the leg club they're not just supporting them when they're coming in to that club for that couple of hours but they're actually very much giving support for when they go home and and return into the community setting. So I think that's a really key aspect here, Jane, in terms of dealing with some of those challenges which patients or members of the public may experience. In terms of a few other things that I'd really be keen to understand here, Jane, and also I'm sure our listeners would be quite keen to understand, is what is needed to implement this type of model? Is there anything here which we need to be really aware of from both a patient perspective and also a healthcare professional perspective too. Yeah, thank you, Sam. And I think, you know, if you're a healthcare professional listening out there, it's really important that we focus on this assessing a patient's ability to be part of a supported care, self-care model. So I think, you know, we've got this great tool, Essity, what we class as the case tool. It's allowing us the ability in a process to assess some to its capability and capacity to implement self-care. So it's about the C in case being the capacity assessment and the A being the approach situation being the S and the E being the education that we provide. So starting with the C, it's important that we look at people's capacity to do the task in hand. So do they understand the information that's being given to them about their care, so do they understand the care plan, do they know what we're trying to achieve, that common goal between us. Can they retain that information enough to be able to implement it when we're not there to guide them through that care plan? Are they able, and this is probably one of the most crucial elements to capacity assessment, are they able to weigh up the information and make a decision? So that could be around some of those red flags that I spoke about earlier on infection, can they weigh up when they've actually got a worry around the signs and symptoms of wound infection? And lastly, the capacity assessment looks at can they communicate that very clearly and do they have the means of communication, the contact numbers to contact the healthcare professional? So those elements, understanding information, be taking information, weighing it up and communicating that information allow us to assess for a patient's capacity to be part of a self-care, supported self-care model. So capacity C is so important for our healthcare professionals to assess. And then moving on then to obviously the approach, the A element of case, this is are they willing, Are we willing as individuals to be part of our management plan? Do we have any worries that really will impact on that ability to take part in our care? So one worry could be have I got enough dressings? What do I do if I run out? Who do I contact? What happens if somebody's not available at that particular time when I need your help? Where do I go then? So these worries and the approach and the ability all allow a good assessment of a patient's ability to be part of this model. And then we're looking then obviously at the situation. Now we could have somebody out there who's really willing and wants to be part of their management, however does the situation allow that to happen? What is the environment like? We're talking about the prevention of wound infections, so is the environment allowing that individual to clean their wound, change their wound in a very clean environment. So yeah, the situation is very important when we're assessing a patient's ability to be part of a supported self-care model. And then finally, the E part of CASE, which is the education that we provide. So we've looked today at some of those great resources that are online and that industry partners create around step-by-step guides to help you out there be part of your care and implement dressing changes, and that's so important that we give that information to those individuals that are participating. But information and education doesn't just come in written formats, it's really important that people can access different forms of communication, so pictures, visual imagery, and also even some podcast information like this Sam to allow the education for supported self-care to be out there. Yeah nicely done Jane and then a good uh good plug for our podcast there so thank you um but I think um one thing for sure Jane is I've learned a lot today from you know everything that you've talked about about supported self-care you know there's there's a lot to it and we've covered a lot of detail and I think potentially there's probably still a lot more to give here but the positive thing as you've mentioned is there's lots of really great resources out there you know you've just talked about an S&T example of one but as you mentioned at the start you know lots of the other industry partners the other leg club industry partners have got lots of other resources which are available and the leg club foundation itself has developed over the years a number of really, really great tools and also resources which can be accessed by both healthcare professionals and also patients. So before we completely close this podcast today, Jane, I just wanted to end with one final point and one final question really, you know, from your perspective as a healthcare professional, you know, lots of experience, you know, from being a clinician in the community but also you know your current experience with Inesity, where do you see this going next and you know what else do we need to do to really embrace this new way of working? Oh Sam, yeah what a great question. Over the last few years we've all seen how supported self-care has been embedded into clinical practice and it's really really important, couldn't be more crucial now, more than ever, that we continue to engage in our own health and well-being and you know that stretches to all elements of self-care for all long-term conditions and lower limb management is one of those. So it's important that we allow patients to live well over time with support. The willingness to engage in our care also means that we're able to reduce some of the demands on the NHS workload which is so important but I think my closing words is empowerment is so powerful and us being at the centre of our care is what makes care so effective. Brilliant Jane and a really great way to finish that off and thank you very much for your insight there. So I think that brings us to the end of this podcast here, taking a central role in my wound healing journey. I believe this is our first introduction or certainly my first introduction into into doing podcast Jane and I'm definitely keen to do another one with you in the future tackling another topic but before we before we wrap up I would just like to say thank you to everybody who has listened today I'm sure you've learned a lot from listening to this podcast but also if you'd like further information and you'd like to learn more about this topic and other topics related to wound healing I'd urge you all to visit the leg club website which is www.legclub.org where you'll find a lot of really useful resources both from the leg club foundation and also all of the other industry partners and if you don't get what you want from that leg club foundation website from there you'll be able to visit the specific links taking you to the leg club industry partners who again are offering lots of useful resources covering a whole host of topics. But I'd like to thank you very much Jane and look forward to speaking to you soon.