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Editorial
published in Nursing Review RCNA monthly paper The care of people with wounds is not new and the development of wound management from prehistoric times to now is well documented within the literature. Ten year ago Keryln Carville an Australian nurse and leader in wound management wrote "today we see an explosion of interest in wound care and a plethora of products and practices with which to practice the art of wound healing (Carville 1993: 6)". Ten years on this interest in wound healing has continued, and even more products are available for use on wounds. So what has developed from this increased interest in wound management during the past 10 years and what are the issues for the person with a wound and for the practitioner working with this person? What lessons can we learn and what does the future hold. For nurses. The most important development from this increased interest was the development of state wound management associations of multi-disciplinary groups of people interested in wound management and care of a person with a wound. South Australia held a meeting of eleven key interested persons in October 1991 and in February 1992 the South Australian Wound Care Association was formed. In November 1991 Western Australia held a Wound Management and Infection Control conference and a steering group was formed with representatives from all states and territories and this resulted in 1994 of the formation of a national association the Australian Wound Management Association. By this time all states had developed their state Associations and welcomed AWMA as a national body to progress wound management issues at a National level. In March 2004 the 5th Australian Wound Management Association Conference "Celebrating 10 years Reflection and evolution' will be held in Hobart, Tasmania. These conferences are always a time for networking and learning of the latest research findings and of new wound management products. The call for abstracts and registrations are now open. More details at: www.cdesign.com.au/awma2004. Also 8-13 July 2004 the 2nd World Union of Wound Healing Societies Meeting will be held in Paris France. www.wuwhs.org This is a significant event and reflects the global interest in preventing and or managing a wound more appropriately. The opportunity to participate in a world wound healing conference and or present research findings is a significant advance of the last ten years. Tribute must also be paid to the magnificent financial support of wound product manufacturers and their sales representatives in supporting educational initiatives. The principal and major sponsors of these events enable eminent speakers in the variety of specialities within wound management to present at these conferences and to provide incentives for new researchers and literary prowess. The education meetings, seminars and conferences are not possible with out this valuable support. Two significant and important documents have result from the collaborative projects involving state Wound Management Association representatives. In 2000 the Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prediction and Prevention of Pressure Ulcer was published and is an important reference tool for all clinicians and its use will result in a significant reduction in the development of pressure ulcers, and thus a reduction in human pain and suffering. In 2002 the Standards for Wound Management was published. In this document there are seven standards to guide practice. All standards were formed after an extensive literature research and are therefore evidenced based and consists of a Statement for each standard, a performance criteria based on the evidence contained in the literature. AWMA believes that these are the first Wound Management Standards in the world and their vision for use is that Standards will be a valuable tool in clinical practice in the development of policies, procedures, and education programs. Education program development has been significant and a plethora of different types of professional programs have been developed and implemented over the past ten years. Health professionals of all disciplines have the opportunity to study wound development and management at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Day courses to degree course, face to face or on-line, there is opportunities for health professionals at whatever level of involvement that the student wants Wound management skills can now recognised through the role of Nurse Practitioners and the first wound care specialists to practice at this level are about to be recognised. The next step in the
process is to educate the public. Wound management products are now more
available via pharmacies and supermarket shelves to the consumers. Appropriate
cost effective use requires appropriate education. The public have access
to wound product developments via the internet, radio programs, and word
of mouth. What is not always conveyed is the when, why and how to use
of this product and often the contraindications for use of this product.
Honey is one example as it is a common supermarket product and I have
heard tales of everyday honey being used on chronic leg ulcers rather
than the 'manuka' honey product developed to rigorous standards for wound
management and passed by the Therapeutic Goods Act. The knowledge that
wound management professionals have and the reasons why and what sort
of product and why one product is more effective that the other must be
available to the general public. More research to ensure validity and
reliability of natural products need to occur. For instance what are the
healing properties of Tea tree oil mango juice and Aloe Vera. What are
the benefits when should these products be used and in what situations
should they not be used. So too should wound cleansing products such as
tap water verus normal saline for wound cleansing. These research topics
and their findings need to be made available to the public |