Why All the (pH)uss About Microenvironments?
The Importance of Acidic pH on Wound Healing Why All the (pH)uss About Microenvironments? By Martha Kelso, RN, HBOT, CEO, WCP The Wound Microenvironment Every wound or ulcer has factors that influence the wound bed environment and how it reacts. Many of these factors occur at a microscopic level and therefore can be referred to as the wound microenvironment. Inside this microenvironment, factors are at play that influence whether a wound heals or becomes chronically stalled.
By Donna Sardina, RN, MHA, WCC, CWCMS, DWC, OMS Staging pressure ulcers can be challenging. Below are some common questions—and answers—about staging. Q. If a pressure ulcer heals (completely epithelialized over), but later reopens at the same site, how should it be staged?
Topical application of silver nitrate is often used in wound care to help remove and debride hypergranulation tissue or calloused rolled edges in wounds...
By Mark M. Lambert, Des Moines University Hansen’s disease, also called leprosy, is treatable today – and that’s partly thanks to a curious tree and the work of a pioneering young scientist in the...
BioLab Sciences, an innovator in regenerative medicine technologies, has announced the patent of MyOwn SkinTM, a new, non-evasive, regenerative tissue...
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center researchers have created electrically charged bandages that can combat antibiotic resistance, enable healing in...
About WoundCareAdvisor.com
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WoundCareAdvisor.com is a unique educational web destination that has been designed to be a trusted, timely and useful resource for healthcare professionals dealing with chronic wounds and ostomy management issues. Offerings on the side currently include
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Healing Wounds with Collagen: Knowing the Difference Makes All the Difference
This 30-minute presentation features learning opportunities that will provide in-depth instruction and demonstration in wound care treatments. After this webinar, the learner will be able to:
The Indications and Contraindications for Collagen
What a Wound Wants and Needs; and Why
Considerations of Collagen in Treating & Healing Wounds
Innovations in Wound Care: The role of wound cleansing in the management of wounds
This 30-minute presentation features learning opportunities that will provide in-depth instruction and demonstration in wound care treatments. After this webinar, the learner will be able to:
Identify the role of proper wound cleansing
Discuss how to select and use non-toxic wound cleansers
Describe advantages of collagen for managing a chronic wound
"Skin tears" may sound like a relatively minor event, but in reality, these injuries can have a significant impact on the quality of patients' lives in the form of pain, infection, and limited mobility.
The incidence of skin tears has been reported to be as high as 1.5 million annually, and with an aging population, this number is likely to go higher.
In this webinar, experts will explain how nurses can use an evidence-based approach -- including following practice guidelines to assess the wound and select the proper dressing -- for managing skin tears and minimizing their negative effects.
Winning the battle of skin tears in an aging population
"Skin tears" may sound like a relatively minor event, but in reality, these injuries can have a significant impact on the quality of patients' lives in the form of pain, infection, and limited mobility.
The incidence of skin tears has been reported to be as high as 1.5 million annually, and with an aging population, this number is likely to go higher.
In this webinar, experts will explain how nurses can use an evidence-based approach -- including following practice guidelines to assess the wound and select the proper dressing -- for managing skin tears and minimizing their negative effects.
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Skin Damage Associated with Moisture and Pressure
• Identify how wounds are classified according to wound depth and etiology
• Describe the etiology of pressure injury and incontinence- associated skin damage (IAD)
• Understand evidenced-based protocols of care for prevention and management of IAD and pressure injuries
• Recognize and describe NPUAP-EPUAP Pressure Injury Classification System
• Understand appropriate ConvaTec products that can be used for prevention and treatment of IAD and pressure injuries
With so much focus on dressing choices, it’s easy to forget the importance of wound cleansing. Wound cleansing can help achieve the goals of wound bed preparation by removing microorganisms, biological and environmental debris to create an environment beneficial to healing as well as facilitating wound assessment by allowing clear visualization of the wound.
Proper wound care is essential to preventing infections for patients in all practice settings, and healthcare providers should stay informed about the most current and effective treatments out there.
Recognizing factors that increase patients’ susceptibility to infection allows providers to identify risks and take measures to prevent infection from occurring or worsening.
Learn how your healthcare team can provide better patient care.
Patient care teams rely on the wound care nurse alone to implement a pressure ulcer prevention program; however, a successful program requires involvement from the entire care team and is a 24/7 endeavor.
Tips on how to differentiate and goals for protection and management.
* Identify how wounds are classified according to wound depth and etiology. * Describe the etiology of a pressure injury (PI) and incontinence-associated skin damage (IAD). * Discuss evidence-based protocols of care of prevention and management if IAD and PIs. * Describe the NPUAP-EPUAP Pressure Injury Classification System. * Identify appropriate products that can be used for preventioin and treatment of IAD and PIs.
[This e-book has been developed through an educational grant from CM&F Group]
Learn more about: A Continuing Risk for Healthcare Workers, Sharps Injuries: Facts and Figures, Proactive Steps for Yourself and Your Colleagues, A Preventable Injury, A Downloadable Workbook from the CDC, The Case for Coverage, If You are Exposed.
Needlesticks and other sharps-related exposures to bloodborne pathogens (including HIV, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus) continue to pose a significant occupational risk for healthcare workers
Safe biopsy handling One of the most common problems in connection with biopsy handling is the risk of being exposed to formalin either through touch or inhalation. A risk that doctors, veterinarians, laboratory technicians and nurses are exposed to every day.
With BiopSafe the problem is finally solved.
receive a free BiopSafe Sample and a free eBook PDF with more information and details.
Herpes zoster (HZ, also called shingles) is a painful condition that produces a maculopapular and vesicular rash. Usually, the rash appears along a single dermatome (band) around one side of the body or face. In most cases, pain, tingling, burning, or itching occurs a few days before the rash. Next, blisters form, scabbing over in 7 to 10 days. In… read more
The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) describes support surfaces as “specialized devices for pressure redistribution designed for management of tissue loads, microclimate, and/or other therapeutic functions.” These devices include specialized mattresses, mattress overlays, chair cushions, and pads used on transport stretchers, operating room (OR) tables, examination or procedure tables, and gurneys. Some support surfaces are part of an integrated…
Herpes zoster (HZ, also called shingles) is a painful condition that produces a maculopapular and vesicular rash. Usually, the rash appears along a single dermatome (band) around one side of the body or face. In most cases, pain, tingling, burning, or itching occurs a few days before the rash. Next, blisters form, scabbing over in 7 to 10 days. In…
As a wound care expert, you’re probably consulted for every eruption, scrape, and opening in a patient’s skin. Occasionally during a patient assessment, you may scratch your head and ask yourself, “What is this? I’ve never seen anything like it.” Most wound care experts want to help heal everyone, and most of us love a challenge. But when should we…
Chronic venous leg ulcers (CVLUs) affect nearly 2.2 million Americans annually, including an estimated 3.6% of people over the age of 65. Given that CVLU risk increases with age, the global incidence is predicted to escalate dramatically because of the growing population of older adults. Annual CVLU treatment-related costs to the U.S. healthcare system alone are upwards of $3.5 billion,…
General characteristics Document if the diversion is an intestinal or urinary ostomy, whether it’s temporary or permanent, and the location— abdominal quadrant, skin fold, umbilicus. (See Descriptor reference.)
Skin substitutes (also called tissuebased products and dermal replacements) are a boon to chronic wound management when traditional therapies have failed. When selecting skin substitutes for their formularies, wound care professionals have many product options—and many decisions to make. Repair of skin defects has been a pressing concern for centuries. As early as the 15th century BC, Egyptian physicians chronicled…
Electrical stimulation and pressure ulcer healing in SCI patients A systematic review of eight clinical trials of 517 patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and at least one pressure ulcer indicates that electrical stimulation increases the healing rate of pressure ulcers. Wounds with electrodes overlaying the wound bed seem to have faster pressureulcer healing than wounds with electrodes placed on intact skin around the ulcer.
As a wound care specialist, you have learned about many skin conditions, some so unusual and rare that you probably thought you would never observe them. I’ve been a nurse for 38 years, with the last 10 years in wound care, and that’s certainly what I thought. But I was wrong. Let me tell you about my challenging patient with…
As full-thickness wounds heal, they begin to fill in from the bottom upward with granulation tissue. At the same time, wound edges contract and pull together, with movement of epithelial tissue toward the center of the wound (contraction). These epithelial cells, arising from either the wound margins or residual dermal epithelial appendages within the wound bed, begin to migrate in leapfrog or train fashion across the wound bed. Horizontal movement stops when…
Electrical stimulation and pressure ulcer healing in SCI patients A systematic review of eight clinical trials of 517 patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and at least one pressure ulcer indicates that electrical stimulation increases the healing rate of pressure ulcers. Wounds with electrodes overlaying the wound bed seem to have faster pressureulcer healing than wounds with electrodes placed on intact skin around the ulcer.
Here is a round-up of resources that you may find helpful in your practice. New illustrations for pressure-injury staging The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) has released new illustrations of pressure injury stages. You can download the illustrations, which include normal Caucasian and non-Caucasian skin illustrations for reference. There is no charge for the illustrations as long as they are being used for educational purposes, but donations to…
By Nancy Morgan, RN, BSN, MBA, WOC, WCC, DWC, OMS Each issue, Apple Bites brings you a tool you can apply in your daily practice. Here’s an overview of cutaneous candidiasis. Cutaneous candidiasis is an infection of the skin caused by the yeast Candida albicans or other Candida species. Here’s a snapshot of this condition.
Topical application of silver nitrate is often used in wound care to help remove and debride hypergranulation tissue or calloused rolled edges in wounds or ulcerations. It’s also an effective agent to cauterize bleeding in wounds. Silver nitrate is a highly caustic material, so it must be used with caution to prevent damage to healthy tissues.
For an ostomy pouching system to adhere properly, the skin around the stoma must be dry and intact. Otherwise, peristomal skin problems and skin breakdown around the stoma may occur. In fact, these problems are the most common complications of surgical stomas. They can worsen the patient’s pain and discomfort, diminish quality of life, delay rehabilitation, increase use of ostomy supplies, and raise healthcare costs. Peristomal skin problems also perpetuate a…
By Jeri Lundgren, BSN, RN, PHN, CWS, CWCN Many factors can contribute to the formation of a pressure ulcer, but it’s rare that one develops in an active, mobile patient. As the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel 2014 guidelines state, “Pressure ulcers cannot form without loading, or pressure on the tissue. Extended periods of lying or sitting on a particular…
Imagine watching your skin tear, bleed, and turn purple. Imagine, too, the pain and disfigurement you’d feel. What if you had to live through this experience repeatedly? That’s what many elderly people go through, suffering with skin tears through no fault of their own. Some go on to develop complications. A skin tear is a traumatic wound caused by shear, friction, or blunt-force trauma that results in a partial-…
This issue marks the fourth anniversary of the “Best of the Best” issue of Wound Care Advisor, the official journal of the National Alliance of Wound Care and Ostomy. Fittingly, it comes during an Olympics year. Since 1904, the Olympics have awarded gold medals to athletes whose performance makes them the “best of the best.” This year, we’re proud to present our own “Best…
By Roxana Reyna, BSN, RNC-NIC, WCC, CWOCN As wound care clinicians, we are trained—and expected—to help heal wounds in patients of any age and to achieve positive outcomes. Basic wound-healing principles apply to all patients, whatever their age or size. The specific anatomy and physiology of vulnerable pediatric patients, however, requires detailed wound care. Unfortunately, little evidence-based research exists to…
Diabetic foot ulcers stem from multiple factors, including peripheral neuropathy, high plantar pressures, decreased vascularity, and impaired wound healing. Contributing significantly to morbidity, they may cause limb loss and death. (See Foot ulcers and diabetes.) Initially, hydrocolloid dressings were developed to function as part of the stomal flange. Based on their success in protecting peristomal skin, they were introduced gradually…
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