Nurse-managed wound clinic. A case study in success

The wound Care Clinic at Naval Hospital Charleston is a nurse-managed ambulatory clinic that has demonstrated the successful application of nursing case management in caring for patients with chronic and complex wounds. Nursing case management is an outcomes-based system of assessment, planning, provision of nursing services, coordination of interdisciplinary efforts, education, and referral. Nursing case management has been shown, in the literature and at Naval Hospital Charleston, to be an extension of role of professional nursing practice and results in decreased costs, improved quality of care, faster wound healing times, decreased complications, and greater coordination of care between specialty disciplines. These positive results are illustrated in several case studies. Nursing case management has many implications for the successful implementation of any healthcare delivery system where decreased costs and improved quality of care are valued, and it has special benefit in the complex management of chronically ill patients.