AAWC Update March 2010

Patient/Caregiver Resource Center Soon to Launch

     The AAWC is developing a Patient/Caregiver Resource Center — a dedicated portion of the AAWC website that endeavors to bring patients and their caregivers together to share their stories, experiences, and ideas, as well as to provide basic education. Alert your patients to this new service and encourage them to become AAWC members! Although participation in the resource center will be open to the public, AAWC patient/caregiver members receive valuable benefits all year — access to journals, newsletters, alerts, updates, and professionals making a difference in the practice. Patients and caregivers have a chance to participate on task forces and even run for the patient advocate/representative on the AAWC Board. Patient/Caregiver membership is only $30 annually.

Educational Wound and Skin Care Brochures for Your Facility

     The AAWC currently has three easy-to-read educational brochures that are geared to the public. ABC’s of Skin and Wound Care for Patients and their Caregivers addresses the treatment of minor wounds (abrasions, bruises, cuts and skin tears). The Skin You’re In offers advice on protecting skin from climate and the environment. Dress and Compress for Success discusses venous ulcer healing. Each brochure can be downloaded free of charge from the Patient Resource Center of the AAWC website and may be reprinted without permission. If you would like the AAWC to handle your professional quality reprints in quantities of 100 or more, visit the AAWC store online to order. Go to www.aawconline.org and select the “Store” from the left hand side of the page.

Attention Corporations!

     Now is the time to join the AAWC. For a modest $360 in annual dues, your company will receive several benefits; plus, sponsorship opportunities are sure to appeal to your corporation. The AAWC is currently developing a Corporate Advisory Panel (CAP). Don’t miss out. Join the AAWC so your corporation can learn more. Visit: www.aawconline.org.

Career Center

     Finding the right employee for your facility or landing the job that meets all your criteria can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. With the AAWC Career Center, finding that “needle” just got easier. The AAWC job site is targeted specifically to wound care professionals and the clinical and industrial jobs they seek. Persons reviewing job postings through the AAWC Career Center are skilled wound care professionals looking to the AAWC as a credible resource for career advancement. Likewise, the best employers for wound care have posted their jobs here because they know it is where qualified wound professionals look for valuable resources. Visit www.aawconline.org.

     AAWC Members save 50% or more on job postings — that’s a minimum of $100 in savings. The Career Center is one more way the AAWC brings value to your membership. Not a Member? Join before you post your job and save money.

Election Results to be Announced at SAWC Spring

     The 2010 AAWC Board of Directors election is now closed. Newly elected board members will be inducted at the AAWC Membership Meeting being held on April 18, 2010 in conjunction with SAWC. Elected and re-elected board members will be reported in the May issues of OWM and WOUNDS.

New at SAWC Spring 2010: AAWC Research Poster Critiques and “Grand Rounds” Session

     To help clinicians develop higher quality work when submitting future SAWC posters around non-randomized controlled clinical trials, Barbara Bates-Jensen, PhD, RN, CWOCN, and the AAWC Research Department have developed four educational posters for display at SAWC Spring, April 17-20 in Orlando. As part of this educational effort, the AAWC Research Department will be reviewing and critiquing a select number of accepted posters. Posters for review will be selected by the AAWC Research Department — each poster reviewed will be recognized with a certificate and the primary author will receive the review. Authors of posters selected will be required to submit their poster content to the AAWC Research Department chair before the actual meeting in order for the review to occur. In addition, a small number of posters reviewed by the AAWC Research Department also will be selected by the AAWC Research Department to be included in the “AAWC Research Poster Grand Rounds,” a new educational session offered by the AAWC Research committee as an oral abstract session during the conference. Registration for the “AAWC Research Poster Grand Rounds” session will occur onsite at the AAWC registration booth, located in the conference registration area.

     Participation is limited because the Research Grand Rounds are intended to be a more intimate and engaging small group experience. The AAWC Research Department and AAWC Board Members will guide participants through one of the AAWC educational research posters and then tour and discuss several exhibited posters that display the concepts. This is an exciting opportunity to increase the level of rigor and the strength of your work in wound care. Please consider joining the inaugural “AAWC Research Poster Grand Rounds” at SAWC Spring.

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