Wound Care History

Mary R Brennan, RN, MBA, CWON

Inquisitive nurses have questioned the status quo and challenged the current standards available at the time. They believed there was an improvement that could be made, and so these nurses began the process of validating their concerns or questions. Was this easy? Probably not, but their conviction to seek out a better method drove them to look, investigate, and validate their work. I would like to share a few stories of nurses who have changed our practice and hopefully inspire you to ask the question: Why are we doing this?

Christine Miller, DPM, PhD, FACCWS

A limb salvage program aims to prevent major amputations and thus improve patients' quality of life and overall longevity. Despite the efforts of a multidisciplinary team approach, amputation prevention remains a challenging endeavor.¹ Providing both physical and socioemotional guidance for patients undergoing a major amputation is crucial for recovery. A multifaceted approach to post-amputation care may seem like a relatively modern concept, but it has deep roots in earlier civilizations.

Christine Miller, DPM, PhD

As the holiday season approaches, bundles of mistletoe will no doubt appear in many homes across the world. This popular holiday decoration, with its green leaves and white berries dangling from doorways, may induce the act of kissing between passersby. Mistletoe (Viscum album L.) is a semi-parasitic shrub that often grows upon oak, pine, and elm trees and is a member of the Viscaceae family commonly found in northern Europe. One may never look at mistletoe the same after learning about its therapeutic offerings, especially as those therapeutic properties relate to wound care.

Christine Miller, DPM, PhD

September is designated as Sepsis Awareness Month, and it offers us time to reflect on the critical medical developments that have brought us to the current era of infectious disease treatment. The first movement toward infection control was with the introduction of antiseptics in the 19^th century. To today’s clinicians, it may seem unfathomable that hand washing was once viewed as preposterous, but the progression of medicine can be convoluted. This convolution can be observed when discussing the beginning of the Antiseptic Era.

Wound management is a tremendous clinical challenge for many health care professionals. The World Health Organization has recognized that wound management is a worldwide public health issue best managed by an interprofessional team. This interdisciplinary approach has been shown to increase healing and decrease wound recurrence. However, it requires shared decision making with many clinicians to create an optimal care plan.

By Jeffrey M. Levine, MD, AGSF, CWSP

The malodor that emanates from some wounds has been recognized throughout human history, as starkly demonstrated in the ancient Greek play named after the principal character, Philoctetes. Written by Sophocles in the fifth century BCE, Philoctetes (pronounced fil-ok-tee’-teez) was a warrior of outstanding marksmanship who set out to win the hand of Helen of Troy, considered the most beautiful woman in the world. On the journey, his foot was bitten by a snake. The bite caused a chronic, painful wound that emitted such a foul odor that his fellow soldiers abandoned him on the deserted island of Lemnos.