Strong believer that improving patient wellbeing and wound healing requires continuous clinicians’ education, the Fondation URGO sponsored a conference on the latest strategies for infected wound management in the USA in Grapevine, Texas (USA), at the beginning of May.
American wound care specialists — including wound, ostomy, and continence nurses, nurse practitioners, general physicians, plastic surgeons, podiatrists, and physical therapists — gathered at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) Spring | Wound Healing Society (WHS), the Fondation URGO leveraged this opportunity to increase their knowledge with some evidence-based strategies.
Strengthening scientific knowledge on advanced wound care
While many clinicians — including wound, ostomy, and continence nurses, nurse practitioners, general physicians, plastic surgeons, podiatrists, and physical therapists — took time off work to attend the SAWC Spring conference, the Fondation URGO leveraged the opportunity to host a dedicated conference on the latest strategies for infected wound management in the USA
Designed for clinicians at the forefront of wound care, this symposium featured leading experts such as Abigail CHAFFIN, Professor of Surgery, Lisa GOULD, Staff Plastic Surgeon, Michael DESVIGNE, Plastic Surgeon, and Terry SWANSON, Nurse Practitioner in Wound Management.
During an hour-long session, they shared insights with an audience of over 150 healthcare professionals on:
- Identifying today’s top drivers of wound infection
- Understanding contamination levels
- Exploring treatment pathways
- Applying cleansing guidelines through real-world case studies
Showcasing cutting-edge technologies
This lecture also included live demonstrations of advanced wound care technologies, such as wound cleansers, negative pressure wound therapy, wound imaging systems, and ultrasonic debridement devices.
These interactive sessions showed high level of curiosity amongst the attendees, with many questions asked as the clinicians provided practical exposure to innovative tools designed to enhance infected wound management protocols.
An increasing pathology
The pain, suffering, and health economic burden of wound infection is heavy.
A 2018 retrospective analysis of Medicare beneficiaries (the USA’s federal health insurance programme) revealed that approximately 8.2 million people were affected by wounds, a substantial portion of which were infected.
Experts detailed the root causes and repercussions of these findings, including obesity, malnutrition, stress, and metabolic syndrome… all increasing afflictions in the globally aging population.
These conditions predispose patients to chronic, infected, non-healing wounds, resulting in pain, suffering, and significant economic impact on both patients and healthcare systems.
It is a matter of public health to ensure adequate training of healthcare professionals to increase wound healing and reduce patients’ discomfort.
Supporting Continuous Training for Healthcare Professionals
By partnering with NACCME, a provider of accredited certified continuing medical education, in organising this event, the Fondation URGO ensured a training that covered the latest techniques and treatments, emphasised best practices and strengthened practitioners’ awareness of evidence-based care.
