The Interdisciplinary Aspects of Wound Care

  A small but increasingly important niche, wound care traverses every discipline, setting, age group, and field in the health care universe.   No one is immune from wounds, and all manner of professionals treating any variety of illness and condition in every setting must be alert to the potential for wound development. The sessions available at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) Spring reflect the diversity of patients, providers, and environments involved in wound care. Here is a sample of the offerings you will find at SAWC Spring in San Antonio, TX, April 30-May 3.

  Home Health Wound Care: Practical Tips from the Field. Thirty percent of home care admissions are wound related. Learn the specialized needs of home health care patients, what the home care wound provider can bring to the table, and how providers can overcome the challenges unique to this environment.

  Pharmacology 1: Drugs That Help or Impair Healing. Many topical and systemic medications are available to enhance wound healing. Use of some commonly used drugs needs to be discontinued. Discover or refresh what you know about current pharmaceutical information.

  Dermatology: What the Wound Care Provider Needs to Know. Enhance your ability to assess and distinguish various dermatological problems common to periwound skin.

  Physical Therapy: Biology and Physiology of Exercise and Wound Healing. Recent studies show exercise has a positive effect on wound healing outcomes. Examine the benefits of exercise from the biological to physiological levels through a multidisciplinary approach.

  Palliative Wound Care: The Ethics of End of Life Treatment. Explore the ethical responsibilities and challenges of providing for patients with pressure ulcers, surgical wounds, cancer-related wounds, and wound care in home health or end-of-life settings.

  High Tech Nutrition: Making the Connection Between Lean Body Mass and Wound Healing. The loss of lean body mass affects functional independence and impairs many of the body’s physiologic functions, including wound healing. See how patients with wounds differ in body composition than healthy individuals.

  Pediatrics—A Much Needed, New, and Rarely Addressed Area of Wound Healing. Explore the current knowledge gaps in pediatric wound care, dispel common myths, and identify safety considerations in the management of the pediatric patient.

This article was not subject to the WOUNDS peer-review process.