Guest Editorial: A Fruitful Term, A Productive Year

On the AAWC’s 20th anniversary—an occasion that commemorates the historical and successful evolution of the leading interdisciplinary association for wound healing in the United States—I am humbled by and grateful for those who have supported our endeavors. The last 19 months of my presidency have gone by quickly, and I am proud of the way we have all worked together to achieve many goals on behalf of our membership. I often say, “Keeping up with so much progress is a good problem to have.” Our vast accomplishments, projects, and programs are a testament to our collective, progressive approach as dedicated members to advance the field.

The AAWC’s strategic plans not only are designed to promote growth in membership, but they also are implemented to grow the field and give everyone involved in wound care, including our patients, a voice. In order for us to continue to be successful, we must strengthen our ties with the community at large and across the globe. 

Our leadership is working toward a stronger, united voice in government and public policy; as such, we are dedicated to collaborating with other entities and focusing on what matters to our members and colleagues. We are an integral resource to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the National Quality Forum, and many other agencies. We are helping consolidate efforts among societies so wound care professionals and government agencies have 1 set of resources that will be crafted by united development teams who are supported by a multitude of multidisciplinary, collaborative, professional organization members. We are proud to have taken the leading role in this effort.

The AAWC continues to serve as the host society, along with the Wound Healing Society as cohost, on the multisocietal initiative, “Wound-care Experts/FDA – Clinical Endpoints Project (WEF-CEP).” Because complete wound closure is the only current endpoint the FDA uses to determine device approvals, our teams are developing a new set of clinical endpoints that are meaningful to our profession and patients. WEF-CEP aims to define scientifically rigorous yet achievable clinical endpoints in wound healing for submission to and consideration by the FDA. Thank you to the many members and other interested parties who took part in our endpoints survey earlier this year. To stay abreast of WEF-CEP progress, please join the AAWC to receive status updates.

As the Program Chair for the AAWC Clinical Practice Track, I am pleased to report the clinical track held at SAWC Spring 2015 in San Antonio was an astounding success. Four of the top 6 rated SAWC Spring sessions were from within the AAWC track. We already have developed our 2016 track for SAWC Spring and hope to see you there. The AAWC Clinical Practice track represents what we affirm: evidence-based, patient-centered, interdisciplinary, practical information clinicians can share with decision makers and colleagues after the conference. Please read more about our track in the AAWC News section of this journal.

Our international ties are important on many levels. I was pleased to represent the AAWC at the European Wound Management Association’s (EWMA) conference in May 2015 along with AAWC Secretary Barbara Bates-Jensen, PhD, RN, FAAN. Among the events in which we participated, Dr. Bates-Jensen and I presented an international partner session, “A Global View of Wound Care: Past, Present and Future.” In addition, I proudly represented the AAWC as a voting member of the EWMA Council. The AAWC looks forward to continued participation with its European sister society for many years to come.       

Among our many international ties, we are pleased to announce our participation as a sister/supporting society for the World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) conference to be held in Florence, Italy, September 25–29, 2016. The Association looks forward to contributing to the congress by sending 3 key leaders to present an AAWC multidisciplinary-focused session.

We greatly value our productive and supportive collaboration with our corporate sponsors and advisory teams. Through their generosity of time and talent, we continue to improve our Education for the Generalist program (found at our website) and to strategically align goals for continued access to evidence-based products and services for the patients we serve.

I greatly appreciate and acknowledge all of our many volunteers, including the board of directors, committee and task force members, and staff members, for their continued dedication to advance the AAWC and the field. It is with their continued commitment to our association we are able to accomplish our goals and objectives to meet the needs of our patients.

This association was built for you. Please enjoy the AAWC membership benefits and know we believe in you and the advancement of wound care.

This article was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.