Staff working with people currently injecting drugs should regularly ask ‘how are your sites?’, but what happens when the answer is not ‘okay’?
Injecting related wounds can have major personal health impacts if they are not addressed or are ignored. Would you know what to look for when you see an injecting related wound? What questions to ask or what treatment works best?
If the answer is no and you’d like to out the answers, then our new free e-Learning course on injecting wound care is ideal for you.
The online resource ‘How are your sites?’ is aimed at improving workers identification and assessment of injection-related wounds and assists participants in being able to offer accurate health and harm reduction advice to people who inject drugs.
Sophie Given, SDF’s National Training and Development Officer, who led the development of the course, said:
“In my 18 months in post, it’s become apparent that there are minimal services offering wound care to people who use drugs within Scotland. Part of this is due to a lack of training courses to upskill the workforce in wound and infection recognition, as well as a lack of confidence in abilities to provide basic wound care.
“This e-learning course aims to give a basic overview of issues relating to injecting wounds and seeks to provide base level knowledge. An advanced, in person training session, will be available in the near future to supplement this and support those who are able to provide more enhanced wound care services.”
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Explain the structure and function of the skin
- Describe the context of skin problems in people who inject
- Assess simple injecting sites
- Differentiate between infected and non-infected injecting wounds
- Discuss potential treatment options and offer recommendations
The course can be completed in half a day, or alternatively be completed in separate sittings to provide a fully flexible learning experience.
The online resource is free to access for people in Scotland and can be accessed via the Scottish Drugs Forum training website.
SDF would like to thank Alison Coull and John Campbell for assisting with the extensive development and testing of the course. We would also like to thank Josie Smith, Alexander Adam and Karen Dunleavy for their help in testing the course.
Alongside this online resource, SDF provides a further seven e-learning courses.