Nurse to benefit from Texan training

Christine Tait, a tissue viability nurse, travelled to San Antonio in Texas on Saturday to get tips from world experts on advanced wound care and pressure ulcer management.

She was hand-picked after being invited to apply by the company, Kinetic Concepts Inc (KCI), which is funding the trip.

She is using her own holiday time to attend the course and hopes it will benefit her work with the trust.

Christine said: "I applied for the scholarship not expecting to hear anything so I was extremely surprised when I received an email two weeks later saying I was going to America.

"It will be the first time I have been to the US and I'm really looking forward to it.

"There will be experts from America and the UK and I have to do a presentation on wound care while I am there.

"The idea of the trip is to share professional knowledge and reflect on different treatments.

"It is about learning from each other and then transferring some of the things I will have learnt to my work."

Christine, along with fellow tissue viability nurse specialist Rachael Stephens, provides clinical and educational support to the hospital trust, assessing and advising on the prevention and management of all chronic wounds.

The tissue viability service is in high demand as a growing number of people being admitted to hospital are over 80-years-old, which increases their risk of developing a chronic wound.

The specialist nurses, with support from link nurses and ward managers, have responsibility for monitoring the effectiveness of pressure ulcers and wound care prevention and for making recommendations for improving the quality of care for patients.

Christine and Rachael held a tissue viability day at the Conquest earlier this month which was attended by more than 70 staff members.