Spread the wound care love with these 5 ways to engage staff—plus take our quiz!

Is a passion for wound care lacking among staff? Remember, it’s important to keep nurses engaged in their work to help keep wound care top of mind.

Engaged workers are described as:¹

• Optimistic
• Team-oriented
• Willing to go above and beyond
• Passionate about learning

So, how do you build a team with those winning qualities? A recent informal poll reveals that a favorite way to engage employees is by making work more enjoyable.² To get you started, here are five fun ways to boost engagement, education—and a true passion for skin health.

1. Share this wound care quiz. Gauge nursing staff’s baseline wound care knowledge with a quick and entertaining quiz. Gather a group to answer the questions together and reward correct answers with candy or another treat.
2. Celebrate team wins. Studies show that, while a job can meet salary and job security needs, if other factors are missing—like recognition—staff motivation wanes.³ One way to both recognize and motivate staff is through friendly competition. For example, how about a contest among units to keep heel pressure injuries at zero? At the end of the allotted time, leadership sponsors a celebration party for any unit that meets the challenge (think beyond pizza to make it extra-special).
3. Reward educational achievements. Making time for skin health education isn’t always easy, but programs like the Skin Champion training modules feature pre-built, half-hour sessions. For every six-month course completion, attendees receive a pin to attach to a lanyard. Not only does staff get training, they also get bragging rights.
4. Spotlight individual successes. Nurses are busy. Their checklists are long. Their days are tiring. But in between all that, they heal hard-to-heal wounds, catch a Stage 1 pressure injury and treat it properly, or spend extra time for patient education. Acknowledging these moments can help staff stay engaged and interested. A simple way to do that? Create customizable award certificates, then print and present them during meetings.
5. Take song requests. Music can turn a bad mood around, get a crowd dancing and energize a workout. Use that power of music⁴ to motivate your staff, too. Get them involved by allowing a Skin Champion to choose a song to play in the break room on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon, when energy may be low. Even in your work shoes, you can kick up your heels once in a while.
   Take the quiz

Engagement for the win

An engaged nursing staff makes for a stronger and more motivated team, which, in turn, helps boost passion and purpose for wound care prevention and treatment.

Engagement can be accomplished in all kinds of creative ways. What keeps your nurses passionate about wound care? Send us your ideas to edrake@medline.com.