Page 2 - Molicare Skin Care_Q1 2018

SKIN TRIVIA
A Case Study by Jane Watson, Clinical and Quality Manager, Oceania Healthcare (excerpt)
• Skin is the largest human organ covering about 25 square feet
• Skin makes up 15% of our body weight
• Humans shed and replace outer skin cells every 27 days
• Your skin constantly sheds dead cells, about 30,000 to 40,000 cells every minute
• Some sources estimate that more than half of the dust in your home is actually dead skin
• Dead skin comprises about a billon tons of dust in the earth’s atmosphere
• Your skin is home to more than 1,000 species of bacteria
• Your skin is its thickest on your feet (1.4mm) and thinnest on your eyelids (0.2mm)
• A ngernail or toenail takes about 63 months to grow form base to tip
• Finger, toe and tongue prints are unique • Fetuses don’t get ngernails till 3 months
Skin Tear Management using MoliCare Skin moisturiser
Analysis of nationwide skin tear data in Oceania’s residential care facilities reveals that approximately 25% of all skin tears occurred on the legs (e.g. shin and thigh), while 19% occurred on the arms. Almost half of all skin tears were caused by falls and approximately 5% were most likely due to dry and/or itchy skin. A previous study compared the e ects of two di erent moisturising regimens on the rate of skin tears at two Oceania facilities: Auckland and the East Coast. During the months of June - August 2015, both sites used the standard moisturising cream as the normal moisturiser for the residents. During the following three months
(September - November 2015), the Auckland site switched to using MoliCare Skin Moisturiser while the East Coast continued to use the standard prescribed moisturising cream. The study found that the use of MoliCare Skin moisturiser was associated with a marked reduction in the rate of skin tears compared to the use of the standard moisturiser.
Skin Tear reduction has not been linked to falls reduction in my region. The sites who are ordering regular amounts of MoliCare Skin as a moisturiser have had the best results in terms of skin tear reduction, independent of changes in occupancy or level of care. I will continue to promote the use of MoliCare Skin to sta and analyse the data from clinical indicators as a guide for improvement. Following this study, I recommended that sites not already doing so should consider using MoliCare Skin Moisturiser as their regular moisturiser of choice.
Elderly skin with impaired physiological functions
+
under conditions of incontinence
SKIN < 16 YEARS
Young skin ‘youthful’ phenotype
SKIN < 65 YEARS
Mature skin
with aquired damage and structural changes
SKIN > 70 YEARS
2 MOLICARE SKIN CARE, 2018
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