2010 UNC Nursing Annual Report 1 | Page 13

H E A LT H CA R E Paying It Forward Kate Rowe had been performing her regular monthly audit in the Medicine Progressive Care Unit (MPCU) but wasn’t satisfied with the results. At the time, she was the unit’s only skin wounds resource nurse. She felt she needed to take action, and that it We wanted very much to do better.” would be more than business as usual. “I noted that our skin scores were chronically ill. Because they are frequently unable not as high as I want them to be and was to get out of bed and walk independently, they are especially focused on sacral ulcers and more vulnerable to skin issues. Kate approached incontinence-associated dermatitis,” says Kate. her nurse manager, Megan O’Connor. What Many patients in the MPCU are elderly and UNC HOSPITALS Nursing Annual Repor t | 13