Special to OWM: Venous Ulcer Guideline Update Accepted by National Guideline Clearinghouse

  The Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) Guidelines Task Force 5-year update of its Venous Ulcer Guideline was accepted for publication on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC), www.guideline.gov.

  The all-volunteer, multidisciplinary Task Force followed its standard guideline-development procedure. The original guideline reviewed literature from January 1985 to July 2005. The update added literature from July 2005 through December 31, 2010. More than 300 publications, including 24 published venous ulcer guidelines and derived references, were reviewed for the guideline, including meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, prospective clinical trials, retrospective studies, and systematic reviews. Recommendations address venous ulcer risk, history, screening and diagnosis, venous ulcer assessment, topical treatment, wound care, compression, patient education, adjunctive treatments, surgical interventions, and recurrence. Up to five best available references (based on a standardized Strength of Evidence scale) were cited, supporting each recommendation. Multidisciplinary expert respondents rated clinical relevance of each recommendation, establishing its content validity. Recommendations with a content validity index (CVI) >0.75 and/or A-level evidence were included in the guideline.

  Clinical practice guidelines written by specialty organizations must meet rigorous standards to be accepted for the NGC. A public resource since 1998, NGC’s mission is to provide healthcare professionals, insurers, and purchasers an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines. The NGC reaches a large international audience of users who report they use the Internet daily to find health-related information. Once accepted, a guideline must be updated every 5 years to remain posted.

  Links to the AAWC Venous Ulcer Guideline and implementation tools including a visual algorithm, summarized references, and companion patient education brochure, Dress and Compress for Success produced by the AAWC Public Awareness Task Force, are available on the AAWC professional resource site at www.aawconline.org/professional-resources/resources/.

  Clinicians, educators, and researchers have affirmed the usefulness of the guideline and anticipated the updated version. Teresa Conner Kerr, PT, PhD, CWS, Chair and Professor of Physical Therapy at Winston-Salem State University (NC); and Lia van Rijswijk, RN, MSN, CWCN, Instructor at Holy Family University School of Nursing and Allied Health Professions, Philadelphia, PA, utilize the AAWC Venous Ulcer Guideline in educating future wound care professionals. Kara Couch, MS, CRNP, CWS, at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Bethesda Limb Salvage Program (MD); and Karen Laforet, MCISc, RN, BA, IIWCC Nursing Director for Calea, a leading home-care provider in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, use the evidence-based patient education brochure to reinforce patient knowledge and involvement in their own wound care.

  Headed by Co-chairs Sue Girolami, RN, BSN, CWON, and Laura Bolton PhD, and Venous Ulcer Guideline Co-chair, Lisa Corbett, APRN, CWOCN, the AAWC Guideline Task Force is committed to producing clear, current, evidence-based relevant wound care recommendations. Volunteers are always welcome and are guaranteed a fun, rigorous education in the guideline development process and a place in history, providing guidelines and related tools to improve the quality and consistency of patient and wound outcomes. Contact Karen Strauss at kstrauss@aawconline.org if you are interesting in being part of our next project, the Wound Infection Control Initiative.

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