A New Look at the Evidence for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is one of those newer wound care techniques that sounds exciting and credible, but which is still somewhat lacking in supporting clinical evidence. The theory behind HBOT is that improving oxygenation around a wound that is currently hypoxic, and therefore slow to heal, may be expected to improve healing rates. As…

The Benefits of Evidence-Based Medicine

While it is always essential that any chosen medical intervention is as effective as possible, this is particularly true in times of economic difficulty when resources are limited and waste is not an option. To maximize the effectiveness of available resources, the practice of evidence-based medicine becomes increasingly important, as well as the use of…

Wound Dressings: Simplifying by Categorizing

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Not only are wound dressings one of the most visible aspects of wound management, they are also one of the most important. For many years, wound dressings were considered a passive component in wound healing, providing a mere physical barrier against further external injury and contaminants. It is now recognized that wound dressings can be…

Coping With Wound Infection

Surgical site infections are a common complication of surgery, occurring in around 2–5% of all surgical procedures, and extending a patient’s length of stay by an average of 9.7 days. Including readmissions, this accounts for close to 1 million additional inpatient-days nationally, and a staggering $1.6 billion in excess costs. Wound infection is clearly a…

Factors Affecting Wound Healing

In an ideal world, the complex and sophisticated natural wound-healing processes that are initiated in response to skin trauma would take effect instantly and resolve every wound, every time. Unfortunately, anyone involved in wound care knows that this is simply not the case. There are a number of reasons why certain wounds prove more reluctant…

The Layers of the Skin

In this week’s newsletter, we will remind ourselves about the different layers of the skin. This is a topic that many of us were taught as part of our training, but which may no longer be quite at our fingertips (so to speak). Still, it is an important subject that underlies everything we do in…

Wound Pain Management

An accurate wound assessment and diagnosis, as described in previous blog posts, is vital for understanding the origin and extent of the wound pain. Once the pain has been fully investigated, pain management strategies can be put into place. Underlying Cause = Underlying Source  many cases, the underlying cause of the wound is also the…

Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom

A recent 93-page report on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a starchy academic title, but a most intriguing conclusion: “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” Noah Berger for The New York Times Tyler Kennedy, 9, searches the Web at home…

Assessment of Wound Pain

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Establishing a thorough pain history should always be the first step in the management of wound pain. Only a full assessment of a wound pain can indicate the cause of the pain and help direct strategies for relief. The fundamental problem faced with the assessment of wound pain is that it cannot be measured directly…