Hillsboro Community Hospital will add a weekly wound clinic beginning Aug. 20. The clinic will focus on treating wounds that are slow to heal.

Several factors can make a wound slow to heal, chief nursing officer Gail Boaldin said. Pressure, poor circulation, infection, diabetes, and poor nutrition can contribute.

“One thing I never realized was how important diet was,” CEO Marion Regier said.

The clinic will bolster an area where HCH has little prior expertise, Regier said. Family practitioners and internal specialists, who make up the bulk of doctors at HCH, get little training in wound care, she said. The wound clinic will include training for existing staff, as well as bringing in workers with prior expertise, she said.

Dr. Shauna Kern will oversee the wound clinic, Regier said.

Boaldin said wounds typically are seen weekly until they are healed.

HCH has turned its attention to six areas to reduce preventable complications for patients, Regier said. They are:

• Pressure ulcers.
• Urinary-tract infections associated with catheters.
• Falls.
• Blood clots.
• Negative drug reactions.
• Readmission with the same diagnosis.

As an example of how the hospital is working to prevent problems, patients are assessed for fall risk when they are admitted, Regier said. If a patient is deemed a high risk to suffer a fall, staff members are notified to keep an eye on the patient. When a fall does happen, the hospital considers what factors may have contributed to it — confusion, medication, a bathroom need, or a wet floor.

A focus related to all six areas has been improving bedside reporting, Regier said.