Expanding Your Knowledge of Palliative Wound Care

By Aletha Tippett MD

There is lots in store for the new year, and a great many wound care conferences just chock-full of information. There is one conference this year that you may not know about—small, quiet, highly informative and productive. That is the 2015 Palliative Wound Care Conference that will be held in Orlando, Florida, in May this year.

Palliative Wound Care Principles

Palliative wound care is an area of care Palliative wound care is a field of care that focuses on wound treatment for patients at the end of life, or patients with terminal disease or an inability to tolerate standard care. The general objective of wound care is to heal a wound or prepare the wound for surgical closure, which can be painful or uncomfortable for the patient, and is can be costly. In palliative care, a qualifying patient may not be tolerant of traditional treatment methods and may not live long enough to heal a wound.

Palliative wound care requires health care providers to adopt a different mindset for their patients. A holistic, interdisciplinary approach to palliation in wound care will help improve a patient's quality of life, manage symptoms and offer treatment of chronic wounds and conditions.

The Scope of Palliative Wound Care

Palliative wound care encompasses a broad range of patient care topics and issues, so do not be fooled by the title of palliative wound care conference.There will be lectures presented by top health care providers in the field including: a vascular surgeon talking about limb salvage and gangrene; a foot surgeon speaking about Charcot foot and palliative surgery; a nutritionist speaking about non-abandonment; a hospice specialist speaking about pain management; a former surgeon speaking about pressure support; a PhD scientist speaking about palliative wound care; a hospice specialist speaking about grief and bereavement; an infectious disease specialist telling us about use of maggots; a hospice specialist sharing case studies of wounds with us; a PhD nurse specialist teaching us about wound dressings; a PhD nurse specialist teaching us about pressure ulcers and deep tissue injury; a special presentation on criminalization of wound failure; and a holistic pharmacist presenting alternative and integrative approaches to pain management.

This conference is small by intent, to promote collaboration and integration. There will be exhibitors on site with a great ability to interact. Attendance is limited to 200, so signing up early will assure a place. This will be the fifth year for this conference and it has become an international affair. Please visit www.palwcc.org to find out more. Hope to see you there.

About The Author
Aletha Tippett MD is a family medicine and wound care expert, founder and president of the Hope of Healing Foundation®, family physician, and international speaker on wound care.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author, and do not represent the views of WoundSource, Kestrel Health Information, Inc., its affiliates, or subsidiary companies.