A conference for the serious practitioner

Advances in Skin & Wound Care,  May/Jun 2003  by Baranoski, Sharon,  Salcido, Richard (Sal)

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EACH YEAR, THE CLINICAL SYMPOSIUM on Advances in Skin & Wound Care: The Conference for Prevention and Healing draws about 1000 multidisdplinary practitioners who are seriously interested in advancing their skills and knowledge as skin and wound care professionals. They come prepared to learn, ask pointed and thoughtful questions, and enthusiastically explore the innovations from industry that are displayed in the exhibit hall.

Because conference attendees are a diverse group, the planning committee takes into account their various educational needs and crafts a program that addresses the concerns of beginner, intermediate, and advanced practitioners in separate breakout sessions. General sessions are designed to appeal to the entire audience, tackling universal concerns that cut across disciplines, practice settings, and experience levels.

This year's conference is no exception. Lectures will blend tried-and-true wound management techniques with the latest concepts and advances in care, offering practitioners the opportunity to build on their knowledge base. Following are highlights of a few of these sessions.

A Good Foundation

Back by popular demand, the all-day Wound Academy preconference will provide practitioners with the foundation needed to make informed treatment decisions. Faculty will focus on prevention guidelines, assessment principles, and interventions related to skin integrity, pressure ulcers, vascular ulcers, and diabetic foot ulcers. The session will conclude with a discussion on selecting topical treatment products to meet the needs of patients in various care settings.

Faculty for this session include Andrea McIntosh, BSN, RN, CWOCN, APN (wound care principles); Sharon Baranoski, MSN, RN, CWOCN, APN (pressure ulcers); Robert Goldman, MD (vascular ulcers); Steven Kravitz, DPM, FACFAS, FAPWCA (diabetic foot ulcers); and Cathy Thomas Hess, BSN, RN, CWOCN (topical treatment options).

Preparing the Wound Bed

One of the most talked-about topics in wound care today, Wound Bed Preparation-Irrigation to Debridement will highlight how practitioners can intervene to reduce or eliminate the factors that inhibit wound healing. In this 2-part, intermediate-level lecture, Luther C. Kloth, MS, PT, CWS, FAPTA, will address these interventions, including removing the necrotic, bacterial, and cellular burden; optimizing exudate levels; and restoring the biochemical balance.

Managing Vascular Ulcers

Compression therapy is acknowledged as an effective means of managing venous insufficiency and treating venous leg ulcers. Yet recurrence of these leg ulcers is quite high, due in part to inconsistent adherence to therapy. In the half-day preconference workshop, Compression Therapy: Basic and Alternative Techniques to Enhance Patient Adherence, learn why and how compression therapy should be used, what techniques practitioners can try instead of traditional compression therapy systems, and how to help patients improve adherence to therapy.

Faculty for this session include Allen Holloway, MD; Mary Jo Geyer, PhD, PT, CWS, CLT; Christine Barkauskas, BA, RN, CWOCN, APN; Linda Galvan, RN, BSN, CWOCN, APN; and Joachim E. Zuther, PT.

What makes an ischemic wound ischemic? Find out in Arterial Ulcers: Noninvasive Assessment, an advanced-level session with Robert Goldman, MD. According to Dr Goldman, choosing the right arterial study (or studies) can, to a significant degree, define the prognosis and treatment of an ischemic wound. His lecture will review the basics of these studies and discuss how they can be used individually or in combination to achieve the most effective care.

Nutrition Matters

When it comes to nutrition problems, patients at both ends of the spectrum-the severely underweight, wasted patient and the obese patient-have more in common than you may think. In Nutritional Extremes: Strategies for Managing the Underweight and Overweight Patient, an intermediate-level lecture, Nancy Collins, PhD, RD, LD/N, will focus on how to manage these patients appropriately. She will review the stress response and how it disrupts normal nutrient partitioning in both extremes, and she will offer strategies for achieving optimal nutritional status for wound healing.

Dr Collins also brings her popular Nutrition Q&A column, published in Advances in Skin and Wound Care, to a live forum in Nutrition and Wound Care: Questions You Always Wanted to Ask. This fast-paced, interactive, basic-level session will provide answers to the nutrition questions skin and wound care practitioners commonly ask, such as: What does arginine do? Should we supplement zinc? How much vitamin C is enough? And, what is an anabolic agent?

Unusual Wounds

Dermatologic disorders may be the first and most prominent sign of HIV infection. They are often severe, atypical, and unresponsive to the usual treatments and interventions. Carl A. Kirton, RN, MA, APRN,BC, will focus on the most common skin disorders seen in persons infected with HIV in his intermediate-level session, Skin and Wound Challenges in the Immunocompromised Patient. Kirton will address practical approaches to assessment and intervention in the context of HIV care.