As an academic physician, I am always hesitant to introduce or get involved with commercial endeavors. As you may have noticed, I have started to include some paid advertising on the site (mostly to keep it up and running!). My mission remains to provide free, high-quality information and technical know-how to help you, front line health care workers, to provide better care to your patients.
With that said, I do pledge to only advertise & spotlight products that I have personally vetted and believe in. Here’s one.
Dr. Patrick O’Malley has developed an online laceration management course, The Laceration Course. As many of us are looking for educational programs that suit our different learning styles, I wanted to share a little information about this course and encourage you to take a look at it. He is also offering a special discount for you all as subscribers to my website.
His tagline is “Laceration management is 90% knowledge and 10% suturing skill.”
The Laceration Course was designed to give new learners, as well as seasoned clinicians, a structured approach to learn how to manage lacerations. It contains 13 discrete modules with 10 hours of content. Course material has been peer reviewed and is accredited by EB Medicine for 10 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. (The course can be purchased with or without CME credit.)
The user interface is friendly and easy to follow. You can sit at your desktop or use a mobile device to watch the lectures, or you can download the audio for each lecture to your phone for listening on-the-go. The lecture slides can also be downloaded if you want to print it off and take notes.
As you can see from the topic list below, there is a lot here that really does go through the core knowledge needed to manage lacerations.
◦ Module 1: Physical exam, mechanism of injury
◦ Module 2: Children, Prep, Anesthesia, Foreign Bodies
◦ Module 3: Irrigation, Closure, Concepts, Aftercare
◦ Module 4: Suturing Basics
◦ Module 5: Suture Techniques
◦ Module 6: Bites and other soft-tissue injuries
◦ Module 7: Face, Complex Wounds and Injuries, Fingers
◦ Module 8: Disposition, Transfers, Notes
◦ Module 9: Billing and Coding
◦ Module 10: Medicolegal Discussion
◦ Module 11: Case Presentations
◦ Module 12: Laceration Repair Videos
◦ Module 13: Suture Technique Videos
I especially liked the modules on billing and coding (not glamorous, but important) and medico-legal aspects of wound management. He also includes 12 case presentations which illustrate the medical decision making process for these patients.
So, if you want a comprehensive guide to laceration management from A to Z, this course may be what you are looking for.
As a bonus, when you purchase the course, you get a free practice suture pad, instruments, and suture material. This is a $30 value.
Go to www.thelacerationcourse.com to learn more. Use coupon code LACREPAIR20 for 20% off.
He also has some great content on social media-Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Lastly, take a look at this high-yield laceration cheat sheet he put together. Feel free to download this, print it off, and keep as a handy reference.