Congratulations to Connie Johnson, MSN, RN, certified wound care nurse and ostomy management specialist at Princeton Medical Center (PMC), who received a silver medal in this year’s Olympics of Wound Care. The awards are presented by the Journal of Wound Care (JWC) and the World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) to honor clinical and educational achievements of wound care professionals worldwide. Johnson received her silver medal in the Contribution to Clinical or Preclinical Research category for a study related to preventing pressure injuries in patients who are placed in the prone (face-down) position.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson was part of a multidisciplinary team tasked with lifting COVID-19 patients into the prone position; this practice helps improve oxygenation for those with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Pressure injuries – particularly on the face, cheekbones, and thorax – are a common complication related to prone positioning.
Johnson developed wound prevention guidelines, worked to ensure prevention strategies were in place before patients were positioned, and trained team members to care for patients’ skin.
Later, Johnson and 11 other researchers at Princeton Health studied the outcomes of these patients compared with those in a control group that adhered to established pressure injury prevention guidelines but did not include a certified wound care nurse on the treatment team.
The research paper, “Pressure Injury Outcomes of a Prone-Positioning Protocol in Patients with COVID and ARDS,” reported that patients whose treatment team included a certified wound care nurse showed 97 percent lower odds of developing a pressure injury. The research was published in the American Journal of Critical Care in January 2022. It has also been presented locally, regionally, and nationally, most recently at Penn Medicine’s 5th annual Nursing Research Conference in December 2021.
In addition to Johnson, the study’s authors included the senior author and researcher Kari A. Mastro, PhD, RN, director of practice, innovation, and research; Nicholas A. Giordano, PhD, RN; Lopa Patel, DNP, RN; Karyn A. Book, MSN, RN, associate chief nursing officer; Jennifer Mac, BSN, RN; Janet Viscomi, MSN, RN; April Em, PT, DPT; Anna Westrick, MD; Monika Koganti, MD; Mindaline Tanpiengco, BSN, RN, senior nurse manager, critical care (retired); and Karen Sylvester, MSN, RN, director, patient care services.
“I commend Connie for this well-deserved recognition,” said Sheila Kempf, PhD, RN, vice president, patient care services and chief nursing officer at Princeton Health. “This is a prime example of nurse-led innovation and research that has the potential to advance patient care at hospitals across the country as they incorporate the practices highlighted in our study.”
Kempf noted that many similar projects are in progress at Princeton Health. She praised Mastro’s leadership in creating a structure that encourages innovation and research in nursing.