Nursing Resource Center
Educational reference materials for nurses working in care contexts where leech therapy is delivered under clinician direction.
How to read this page
Everything here is an educational reference for licensed nurses and is not medical advice, a treatment protocol, or a substitute for your institution's own policies. The checklists and flowsheet templates below are starting points to be adapted to local institutional protocol and used only under appropriate clinician supervision and training. This page contains no patient self-application instructions and makes no claim that leech therapy treats or cures any condition.
The American Society of Hirudotherapy maintains this hub as a professional-membership reference for the nursing audience. It gathers documentation references, monitoring flowsheet templates, patient-education handout links, and pointers to existing clinician resources in one place. It is reference infrastructure for nurses — it does not authorize, direct, or replace care decisions made by the responsible clinician under a local protocol.
Documentation checklist references
Educational templates to adapt to your institution's charting standards — not a prescriptive sequence.
Pre-session verification
Order/authorization on file, indication recorded, consent documentation present per local policy, and baseline observations noted.
Baseline assessment
Vital signs, hemoglobin/hematocrit reference per institutional pathway, site description, and photographic documentation where policy allows.
Allergy & history review
Known sensitivities, anticoagulant or antiplatelet history, and immunosuppression status flagged for the responsible clinician.
Session record
Date, time, site, and observations recorded contemporaneously, with handoff notes for the next shift.
Post-session note
Site condition, dressing details, patient-education reinforcement, and any escalation triggers communicated to the responsible clinician.
These items are illustrative. Confirm required fields, retention, and consent documentation against your local institutional policy before use.
Monitoring flowsheet template (educational)
An example of the columns an institutional monitoring flowsheet may include. Thresholds and frequency are set by local protocol, not by this template.
Time / interval
Observation timestamps; frequency defined by local protocol, not by this template.
Vital signs
Parameters and reference ranges per institutional monitoring pathway.
Site observation
Color, capillary refill, temperature, and bleeding description in objective terms.
Dressing / drainage
Dressing status and drainage volume captured against local thresholds.
Escalation flag
Column to mark when an observation meets a locally defined escalation trigger.
Initials / sign-off
Accountability column for the nurse recording each interval.
Worked flowsheet structure and escalation-cue examples (professional reference)
Content hidden by default. Reveal only if you are a licensed clinician working under institutional protocol with appropriate monitoring, safety, and consent procedures in place.
Patient-education handout links
Plain-language materials nurses can share with patients and families. These describe what to expect — they are not self-application instructions.
Patient guide
General orientation for patients and families on what hirudotherapy is and what questions to ask their clinician.
What to expect
Sets expectations for a clinician-delivered session so nurses can reinforce consistent, accurate messaging.
Printable handout
A take-home reference for patients. Distribute alongside, not in place of, the responsible clinician's instructions.
Clinician resources
Existing professional references on this site. These are clinician-facing and presume training plus a local protocol.
Professional reference, gated by local protocol and training
The resources below are detailed clinical references. They are intended for licensed clinicians and nurses working under a written institutional protocol with appropriate training, monitoring, and consent procedures. They are not patient self-care guidance and do not replace your institution's own policy.
Safety protocols
Patient selection, infection-control references, bleeding-management framing, and adverse-event escalation — for clinicians under institutional protocol.
Nursing protocols
Nursing-specific procedural reference within the practice library, to be applied under local policy and supervision.
Safety & infection control
Infection-prevention reference material for the care setting, gated by institutional protocol and training.
Scope of practice
Reference on where nursing scope, delegation, and local regulation intersect — confirm against your jurisdiction and employer.
Boundaries of this resource
- Education, not medical advice. Nothing here directs care for an individual patient; the responsible clinician and your institutional protocol govern.
- Templates, not policy. Checklists and flowsheets are adaptable references, not a replacement for your institution's approved policy.
- No self-application. This page contains no instructions for patients to apply leech therapy themselves.
- No treatment or cure claims. ASH organizes reference knowledge; it does not assert that leech therapy treats or cures any condition.
Questions or corrections can be sent via the Contact & Transparency page.