Wound Closure: Advanced Practice

• Registered Nurses
• Enrolled Nurses
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners
• General Practitioners
• Others on application. 

This course will suit students who already have suturing skills, and are looking to develop their skills further.

This course will not suit a student who is new to suturing.

Course content for Wound Closure: Advanced Practice includes:

• Advanced skin physiology
• Sharps handling and safety
• Guidelines for administration of local anaesthetics including:
  • Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
  • Local anaesthetic pharmacology
  • Local anaesthetic agents and Sodium Bicarbonate
  • Pain assessment & Pain management
  • Practice standards
  • Local anaesthetic administration techniques
  • Local anaesthetic toxicity guidelines
  • Local anaesthetic administration scope of practice for nurses
  • Professional Indemnity
  • Practical administration workshop
• Skin assessment: identifying skin lesions utilizing dermoscopy
• Histopathology collection:
  • Shave Biopsy- Indications, method, and application practical technique
  • Punch Biopsy- Indications, method, and application practical technique
• Perform advanced wound closure:
  • Multiple layer closure
  • Elliptical Excision
  • Z-Plasty Closure
  • Advancement Flap Closure
• Advanced Wound Support:
  • Infection management guidelines and recommendations
  • Operative and post-operative wound dressings- Practical demonstration and application
  • Scar minimisation application and methods- Practical demonstration
  • Immobilisation and wound support- Practical demonstration and application
  • Billing and MBS item numbers

At the successful completion of the Wound Closure: Advanced Practice students will have advanced knowledge and skills to determine the best wound closure technique to achieve durability and simplicity.

Students will learn the ability to close wounds using a variety of advanced methods and materials including multiple layer closure, elliptical excision and z-plasty Closure.

Students will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

This course includes both online theory and a one-day face-to-face workshop where students will practice skills including:

• In-class activities assessed by a qualified assessor
• Local anaesthetic administration
• Introduction into Dermoscopy
• Skin biopsy and histopathology collection
• Deep tissue wound closure
• Elliptical excision
• Elliptical excision Z-Pasty and Advancement flap closure.

The Wound Closure: Advanced Practice course is delivered as a one day, in-person workshop and students will be assessed by a qualified and endorsed trainer as part of the workshop.

Additional resources are provided to the student via the accessIQ digital resource library but no additional assessment is required by the student on completion of the workshop.

Learners have the option of completing Course in Wound Closure (10762NAT) Fundamentals Day 1

Further development of wound closure knowledge and skills increases capability of wound clinical management across a range of primary healthcare settings including general practice, community-based care, dermatological, and educational. Understand guidelines for administration of local anaesthetics, infection management, post-operative care, MBS billing item numbers, professional indemnity considerations, all covered in this Advanced Practice Program.

Students enrolled in The Benchmarque Group courses should adhere to the following principles:

• Display a commitment to learning and to achieving success
• Be responsible and accountable for their own learning, behaviour, and decisions
• Actively participate in all workshop activities and learning experiences
• Attend all scheduled sessions and be always punctual
• Complete all online assessments and workplace practice activities (as required)
• Work in harmony and respect the rights and opinions of staff and other students
• Treat others as they themselves would like to be treated
• Always use acceptable language

To ensure you have the foundational skills of wound closure prior to developing advanced skills, it is recommended you complete the Course in Wound Closure which is an accredited course.

The Course in Wound Closure is an accredited introductory wound closure course covering knot tying, and introductory wound closure techniques such as staples, steri-strips, glue, and single interrupted suture. 

Wound Closure: Advanced Practice is a non-accredited workshop where you will develop advanced skills in local anaesthetic administration and histopathology collection, specifically shave and punch biopsy and advanced flap repair and closure.

Yes, suturing and wound closure can be added to your scope of practice as long as certain conditions are met. You must be qualified and you must be authorised (a policy or procedure stating the conditions that need to be met for you to perform wound closure in each workplace that you are employed in, as these conditions may differ from city to rural or remote location with regard to autonomy). If these criteria are met, then you can safely perform wound closure.