Caregivers can now pick up the basic know-hows of prevention and management of pressure injuries in the comfort of their home and on-the go.

Understanding the needs of individuals who care for family members with pressure injuries, the inaugural micro e-learning course, comprising topics such as "Understanding Pressure Injuries", "Preventive Strategies" and "Management and Treatment of Injuries", were specially curated to provide comprehensive care management for caregivers. Each topic contains a series of one-minute reads, short video clips and quizzes so that caregivers can quickly pick up the basics of pressure injury management.

Singapore’s first micro e-learning course on pressure injury for caregivers is a joint partnership between St Luke’s Hospital (SLH) and Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS). Launched at the 15th Annual Wound Conference organised by SLH on 11 March 2022, the course on SUSS UniLEARN¹ online learning platform will provide a one-stop educational resource where caregivers can easily access wound care knowledge anytime, anywhere and whenever they need it.

By taking an upstream approach, SLH and SUSS hope to empower caregivers with the know-how to better prevent and care for pressure injuries, improving patient outcomes and reduce pressure injury-related hospital admissions, comorbidity and mortality.

“It is common to see patients being admitted for late-stage pressure injuries resulting from being in the same position for long hours. One possible cause might be, caregivers may not know that inactivity can attribute to the occurrence of pressure injury,” says Yvonne Lau, Deputy Director, St Luke’s Community Wound Centre and St Luke’s Academy. “With the new module, we hope to equip caregivers with the necessary knowledge and skills to enable them to provide a continuum of care for their loved ones at home. This will help prevent the onset or worsening of pressure injuries. Concurrently, it will also reduce caregivers’ stress with highercompetency to administer care. Overall, it will improve the psycho-emotional well-being for everyone in the family.”

A pressure injury is an area of injured skin that happens when force is applied on the skin's surface. This force can be a constant pressure on an area of skin or a dragging force between the skin and another surface. Pressure injuries usually happen over bony parts of the body (hips, heels, tailbone, elbows, head and ankles) and can become life-threatening if it advances to a deep wound or becomes infected.

According to the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s National Survey of Senior Citizens 2011, 2.1% of Singapore’s population aged 75 years old and above are bedridden or require total physical assistance. This is compared to 0.2% of their 65 – 74-year-old counterparts and 0.3% of those 55 – 64.² As the Singapore population ages, it is expected that more people will likely be totally dependent on caregivers to take care of their health and daily activities.

People who are bed- or chair-bound have a higher risk of developing pressure injury due to long hours spent in the same position.

In preparation to meet the ageing population's needs to build up the capabilities of healthcare professionals in Singapore, SLH is an appointed Learning Institute by Agency for Integrated Care to support the community care sector. Wound care, including pressure injury, is one of its focus areas. In constant pursuit of a higher efficiency course delivery mode, SLH launched its first e-learning module for healthcare professionals with SUSS UniLEARN in April 2021 to enable more to access and upgrade wound care learnings during the current pandemic.

Associate Professor Lee Wee Leong, Vice-President (Learning Services) of SUSS, said, “SUSS is privileged to partner SLH to build capabilities for the community care sector and caregivers through our e-learning expertise. As one of the leading pioneers in online learning committed to inspiring lifelong learning that creates an impact for the greater good, this initiative is a natural step for us. It underscores our commitment in giving back to the community.”

Interested caregivers and healthcare professionals can visit https://slh.unilearn.edu.sg/ for more information and to register for the respective wound care courses.

For media queries and interviews, please contact:

St Luke’s Hospital
Chua Hwee Leng (Ms)
Manager
Corporate Communications & Partnerships
Email: hweelengchua@stluke.org.sg

Jennifer Tay (Ms)
Senior Executive Corporate Communications & Partnerships
Email: jennifertayyh@stluke.org.sg 


Singapore University of Social Sciences
Tian Zhiyuan (Mr)
Manager
Communications & Marketing
Email: ztian@suss.edu.sg

About St Luke’s Hospital

St Luke’s Hospital, named after the patron saint of the medical profession, was the first hospital in Singapore dedicated to the elderly sick.

We have expanded our services beyond the elderly to enrich more lives. An Institution of a Public Character, we care for 2,300 inpatients and 3,500 outpatients each year, regardless of race, language or religion. As illnesses may be long and chronic, we care holistically for patients’ physical, emotional and psychosocial well-being.

Impactful and innovative in transforming community care, we were the first recipient of the President’s Award for Social Impact (2012), and the first community hospital to receive the National Healthcare Innovation and Productivity Medal (National University Hospital – St Luke’s Hospital Integrated Care Path, 2016). We topped the Community Hospital Patient Experience Survey in 2018.

For more information on SLH, please visit slh.org.sg 

About the Singapore University of Social Sciences

Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) is a university with a rich heritage in inspiring lifelong education and transforming society through social sciences. We develop work-ready graduates and work-adaptive alumni to their fullest potential through our 3H’s education philosophy – ‘Head’ for professional competency with applied knowledge, ‘Heart’ for social awareness to meet the needs of the society, and ‘Habit’ for passion towards lifelong learning.

We offer over 80 undergraduate and graduate programmes, available in full- and part-time study modes which are flexible, modular and inter-disciplinary, catering to both fresh school leavers and adult learners. SUSS also offers a broad range of continuing education and training modular courses for the professional skills upgrading of Singapore's workforce.

Our programmes and courses are offered by our five schools:

• S R Nathan School of Human Development

• School of Business

• School of Humanities and Behavioural Sciences

• School of Law

• School of Science and Technology

To date, over 42,000 graduates have experienced our unique brand of education, and each year, about 17,000 students are pursuing their full- and part-time studies with us.

The Institute for Adult Learning (IAL), as part of SUSS, leads in the field of research on adult learning to build capabilities of the training and adult education sector in Singapore and beyond.

For more information on SUSS, please visit suss.edu.sg.

About SUSS UniLEARN

SUSS UniLEARN is an e-learning initiative by the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) focused on making a positive social impact in our community.

Consistent with SUSS’ mission to inspire lifelong learning and transform society through applied social sciences, UniLEARN helps individuals develop personal skills and competencies to improve their lives and the lives of others around them.

We partner like-minded non-profit organisations and social advocates to offer online learning to employees, volunteers, and individuals who want to lead change and engage in social action for the common good.

For more information on SUSS UniLEARN, please visitwww.unilearn.edu.sg.  

Annex A

Pressure Injury Management for Caregivers  

This is a micro-learning course designed for family caregivers who are caring for their elderly family members, and individuals who are interested to learn more about managing pressure injuries. 

The 60-min course comprising of topics such as ‘Understanding Pressure Injuries’, ‘Preventive Strategies’ and ‘Management and Treatment of Injuries’ is delivered through bite-size sessions comprising a series of 1-minute reads, short video clips and quizzes, so that the caregiver can easily pick up the basics of pressure injury management while on-the-go. 

On completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Define what pressure injuries are
• Outline why it is important to manage pressure injuries
• List and compare the different pressure injury stages
• Apply simple strategies to prevent pressure injuries
• Utilise dressing to manage basic pressure injuries

The course is priced at S$53.50 (including GST) and interested learners can learn more and sign up for the course at  https://www.unilearn.edu.sg/course-detail/course-v1:SLH-SUSS+SLH102+2022_1/

Basic Wound Care Course 

This first e-course on Basic Wound Care was launched in April 2021 on the SUSS UniLEARN platform. Designed for registered nurses, enrolled nurses and nursing aides to expand their knowledge and skills in caring holistically for their patients, the 16-hour course consists of 4 modules – comprising a total of 12 hours of self-directed e-learning and 4 hours of facilitated Zoom /webinar sessions.

The course starts with a recall of the anatomy and physiology of the integumentary system to a detailed assessment of ageing skin, exploring the common skin conditions plaguing the elderly patients and finally rounding off with exploring the different prevention methods/ products commonly used.

On completion of the course, participants are equipped to:

• Describe relevant knowledge and skills to provide skin care and maintenance of skin health for patients.
• Describe evidence-based care in assessment, prevention and management of pressure injury.
• Distinguish between the available wound care products.
• Apply tips and techniques learnt to provide holistic wound care for patients.

Priced at $363.80 (including GST), 143 learners have successfully completed the e-training since the launch of the course as of February 2022.

For more information about the course, visit  

https://www.unilearn.edu.sg/course-detail/course-v1:SLH-SUSS+SLH101+2021_1/