Blog
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Pressure Prevention at Home: Turning, Floating, and Protecting the Bedbound
When a loved one becomes bedbound, the bed–which should be a place of rest–can quickly become a source of risk. As an in-home Nurse Practitioner, I see many families who are doing their absolute best but aren’t aware of the small, specific techniques that prevent skin breakdown. Pressure injuries, specifically Stage 1 injuries (where the
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The “Iceberg” Wound: Understanding Deep Tissue Injuries
When we think of a skin injury, we usually think of something that happens from the outside in, such as a scrape, a cut, or a blister. As an in-home nurse practitioner specializing in wound care, I often see a much more deceptive type of wound: the Deep Tissue Injury (DTI). Unlike a typical scrape, a
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Beyond Redness: Identifying Pressure Injuries on All Skin Tones
In the medical world, we are often taught that the first sign of a pressure injury is “non-blancable erythema”–a fancy way of saying a red spot that doesn’t turn white when you press on it. But there is a significant flaw in that standard: it primarily describes how a wound looks on light skin. As
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Why Your Back Pain Might Actually Be a Foot Problem
I often walk into a patient’s home and hear them describe a nagging ache in their lower back or a sharp pain in their hip. They are often surprised when the first thing I do is ask them to take off their shoes and socks. “It’s my back that hurts,” they tell me, “not my
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The Truth About Toenail Fungus: It’s Not What You Think
I want to clear the air immediately: toenail fungus is NOT a hygiene problem. Having fungus under your nails does not mean you are “dirty.” In my practice, I see fungus in the cleanest of homes. It is an opportunistic infection which means it will grow wherever the opportunity exists. Fungi love dark, moist, and