WoundSource Practice Accelerator: Chronic Wound Care

WoundSource Practice Accelerator: Chronic Wound Care

APRIL IS CHRONIC WOUND CARE MONTH As part of the WoundSource Practice Accelerator series, we are offering you this educational portal into a variety of topics related to chronic wound identification and management. Please scroll below to choose your learning experience and please share this page with your social network and colleagues. Expanded awareness leads to better prevention and care. WATCH VIDEO View this month’s educational resources. WEBINAR WHITE PAPER FACT SHEET QUIZ FEATURED ARTICLES ON-DEMAND WEBINAR The Chronic Wound: Conquering the Barriers to Wound Healing Heidi H. Cross, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, CWON Managing chronic wounds and non-healing wounds present a significant clinical and economic challenge for clinicians. With limited resources, an increasing patient population with greater morbidities, rising health care costs, new regulations and increased scrutiny, health care providers must provide wound treatment to patients in an ever-changing and complex landscape of care. This webinar will provide clinicians with evidence-based knowledge on how to best diagnose and manage the chronic wounds that occur most frequently in today's practice. WATCH NOW DOWNLOADABLE WHITE PAPER Why Won't This Wound Heal? Addressing Common Factors That Impact Wound Healing When developing and implementing a wound care plan, health care professionals must look beyond predicted outcomes and the general processes of wound assessment, identification, and classification. This guide describes in detail the factors most commonly observed to affect wound healing. Careful consideration of these factors in treatment planning is an essential element of best practices in wound care. DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER Quick Facts - Chronic Wound Care This two-page fact sheet was created to support staff education on managing chronic wounds. The print-friendly format is perfect for posting on the bulletin board or distributing to your nursing staff at in-service. DOWNLOAD THE FACT SHEET How Much Do You Know About Managing Chronic Wounds? Take our 10-question quiz to find out! TAKE THE QUIZ Chronic Wound Assessment and Management: Important Terms to Know Glycemic control: management of blood glucose levels. Inflammatory phase: the body's natural response to injury. Once hemostasis is achieved blood vessels dilate to increase blood flow allowing antibodies, white blood cells, growth factors, enzymes, oxygen and nutrients to the injured area. It is characterized by redness, pain, warmth, and swelling. Proliferative phase: the rebuilding phase of wound healing with new granulation tissue consisting of collagen and extracellular matrix. These structures provide the foundation for new blood vessels to develop via angiogenesis. VIEW THE FULL GLOSSARY READ THIS MONTH'S FEATURED ARTICLES Is This Wound Chronic? Chronic wounds affect over 6.5 million people annually in the United States, with a total cost of over $26.8 billion per year.1 Proper identification of chronic wounds is necessary to develop an effective treatment plan, although many elements—such as... Read More Skin Injury and Chronic Wounds: Shear, Pressure, and Moisture Wound healing is a complex process that is highly dependent on many skin cell types interacting in a defined order. With chronic wounds, this process is disrupted, and healing does not normally progress... Read More Chronic Wound Breakdown: Most Common Types of Chronic Wounds In approaching the management of a chronic wound, the first step in developing a treatment plan that will combat chronicity and promote healthy healing of damaged tissue begins with understanding the... Read More Chronic Wound Progression The returning wound patient is in for reassessment. They are positioned for maximum visualization of the wound. You remove the dressing. Clean the wound. After a few additional steps, it's time to measure the wound's progress. Using your... Read More APRIL IS CHRONIC WOUND CARE MONTH Identification and Treatment of Chronic Wounds Wound healing takes place when a wound moves through the phases of wound healing: the inflammatory phase, proliferative phase, and maturation phase. This usually takes place over the course of a few days to a few weeks, but when a wound becomes stalled in on of the phases for more than 30 days it is considered a chronic wound. The most common types of chronic wounds are venous ulcers, arterial ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers, and pressure injuries. Chronic wounds impact over 6.5 million patients and cost over $26.8 billion in the US each year. Watch this brief overview video to learn more about chronic wounds and the educational resources made available on chronic wound management.

Debridement and Wound Tissue: What's Healthy and What's Not?

Identifying wound tissue types is imperative for effective care of patients with chronic wounds. Health care providers must be able to recognize the various categories of wound tissue during a wound bed assessment, to guide care planning and best practice treatment choices. As wound care professionals know, treatment goals vary by wound tissue type and composition. This illustrated and referenced white paper provides a clear overview of skin anatomy and physiology, the types of wound tissue and ...

Quick Facts - Diabetic Foot Ulcers

A diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is an open sore commonly found on the bottom of the foot in patients with diabetes. This wound is typically caused by a combination of poor vascularity, neuropathy, and repetitive trauma. DFUs are all too frequent complications of diabetes, and they impose a heavy burden on patients and health care systems. The central goals of DFU management are achieving wound healing, addressing risk factors, achieving adequate perfusion, controlling infection and glucose levels...

How Much Do You Know About WoundSource Practice Accelerator: Chronic Wound Care?

Chronic Wound Assessment and Management: Important Terms to Know

Advanced treatment modalities: Wound care interventions that are typically applied when standard of care treatments have failed to lead to significant wound closure progress. Treatments include collagen products, cellular and/or tissue-based products, negative pressure wound therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and others. Full-thickness wound: Tissue damage involving total loss of epidermis and dermis and extending, at the minimum, into the subcutaneous tissue and possibly through the fascia, muscle, or bone. Granulation tissue: Tissue found in wounds beginning to heal. It is marked by pink or red tissue and may appear moist or shiny with an irregular or granular surface. Granulation tissue contains new vessels, tissue, fibroblasts, and inflammatory cells.