NPUAP

by Nancy Munoz, DCN, MHA, RDN, FAND

by Nancy Munoz, DCN, MHA, RDN, FAND

Editor's note:This blog post is part of the WoundSource Trending Topics series, bringing you insight into the latest clinical issues and advancement in wound management, with contributions by the WoundSource Editorial Advisory Board.

By Jeffrey Levine MD

Please join me Thursday, November 16 from 3:00-4:00pm EST for a free webinar presented by myself and Elizabeth A. Ayello, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, CWOCN, ETN, MAPWCA, FAAN sponsored by the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP), entitled, Unavoidable Pressure Injuries, Terminal Ulceration, and Skin Failure: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?

By the WoundSource Editors

Washington, D.C. – June 21, 2017 –The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) recently announced six new director to its board of directors. Scott Bolhack, Barbara Delmore, William Padula, Joyce Pittman, Ann Tescher and Tracy Yap were named to the board in 2017, joining the five additional standing directors. New directors serve a three-year term on the board.

By Jeffrey M. Levine MD, AGSF, CWS-P

As Co-Chair of the NPUAP Education Committee it is my pleasure to invite all clinicians to the NPUAP Biennial Conference in New Orleans from March 10 to 11, 2017. Featured topics will include best practices for staging and treatment, pressure injury recidivism, and pressure injury as a quality measure. In addition to these timely topics, NPUAP will host a full day featuring national experts who will discuss terminal ulceration, skin failure, and unavoidable pressure injury. Attendees are invited to submit cases that illustrate these lesions, and a select number of submissions will be presented for discussion with the group.

By Mary Ellen Posthauer RDN, CD, LD, FAND

The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) has designated November 17, 2016 as World Wide Pressure Injury Prevention Day and is urging states to join the effort and raise awareness about the need to prevent pressure injuries. As of October 1st, North Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, and the District of Columbia have issued State Proclamations for Pressure Injury Prevention Awareness Day. The NPUAP is working through Congressional channels to seek a Federal Declaration from the President for a Pressure Injury Prevention Awareness Day to occur each year on the 3rd Thursday of November. This would then coincide with their worldwide partners.

By the WoundSource Editors

Washington, DC – August 30, 2016 – The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) revised the Pressure Injury Staging System following a consensus conference in April. The response to the changes has been positive. To date, The Joint Commission (TJC) has adopted the new terminology and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been in discussions with the NPUAP to incorporate the new terminology. The rollout of the changes will be controlled by these agencies.

by Thomas E. Serena MD, FACS, FACHM, FAPWCA

"I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary. But the facts of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership."
-John F. Kennedy May 25, 1961

By Margaret Heale, RN, MSc, CWOCN

I was not at the April National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) meeting, but I do think some of critical commentary that has followed the announcement of the pressure injury staging system changes is flawed. Clearly designating the thickness of an injury to a defined wound stage makes sense and communicates a severity. All the NPUAP have done is clarify some detail that clinicians have had to manage previously, within a gray area. It is not the responsibility of the NPUAP, researchers or clinicians at the bedside to make up definitions to fit coding or legislators. It is important that researchers and bedside clinicians provide the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and legislators with research demonstrating how and why pressure ulcers occur.

By Mary Ellen Posthauer RDN, CD, LD, FAND

The April National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) consensus conference resulted in a terminology change from pressure ulcer to pressure injury, and also validated new terminology which more accurately describes pressure injury in intact and ulcerated skin. The previous staging system described both Stage 1 and Deep Tissue Injury as injured intact skin and the other stages described open ulcers. There has been confusion because the definitions for each of the stages referred to the injuries as "pressure ulcers". The term "suspected" was removed form the Deep Tissue Injury diagnostic label and Arabic numbers are now used instead of roman numerals.