The world has not known a pandemic such as COVID-19 since 1918. Millions have been infected, hundreds of thousands have died. The world, quite simply, came to a halt as a result of a single virus.
As countries have taken tentative steps towards easing lockdown restrictions, citizens have had to adapt to a new normal. Handwashing habits will probably never be the same again. Social distancing may see handshakes and hugging abandoned for a generation and face coverings are commonplace.
The toll on our health is not yet known, but there is no doubt that it will be significant. Cancer referrals dropped by up to 75% in April and mental health helplines have seen an unprecedented surge in calls. The pandemic has been with us for months, but the legacy of COVID-19 for our mental and physical health will last for years.
After this session, the viewer will:
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought the effects of pressure ulcers and device-related pressure ulcers (DRPUs) in particular into sharp focus. With the highly increased use of medical devices for the diagnosis and treatment of patients who require intensive care such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) masks or ventilation and feeding tubing, and with the intense use of personal protective equipment (PPE) including face masks, respirators and goggles by healthcare professionals globally, the incidence of DRPUs has risen starkly.
In his talk, Amit will explore the currently known aetiology of pressure ulcers with focus on the potential risks associated with medical devices used by patients and also, PPE used by health professionals during the current pandemic. He will further discuss the research underway in his laboratory and the long-term research & development work needed for the prevention and management of DRPUs from the perspectives of clinicians, patients, industry and regulators.
In this session Professor Amit Gefen speaks about Recent Developments in Pressure Ulcer Prevention.
He developed an experimental-computational analysis framework which facilitated objective, quantitative, standardized, methodological and systematic comparisons between the biomechanical efficacies of different dressing technologies for pressure ulcer prevention: A dressing technology based on cellulose fibres used as the core matrix was evaluated versus the silicone-foam dressing design concept. Using an anatomically-realistic computer model of a supine patient to whom multiple various sacral dressings have been applied virtually, we quantitatively evaluated the efficacy of the different dressings by means of a set of 3 biomechanical indices: The protective efficacy index, the protective endurance and the prophylactic trade-off design parameter.
Prior rigorous experimental measurements of the physical and mechanical behaviours and properties of each tested dressing, including tensile, compressive and friction properties, have been conducted and used as inputs for the computer modelling. Each dressing was evaluated for its tissue protection performances at a new (from the package) state, as well as after exposure to moisture conditions simulating wet bedsheets.
His results demonstrated that the dressing with the fluff core is at least as-good as silicone-foams but importantly, provides the best balance between protective performances at its ‘new’ condition and the performance after being exposed to moisture. We conclude that preventative dressings are not equal in their prophylactic performances, but rather, the base technology, the ingredients and their arrangement in the dressing structure shape the quality of the delivered tissue protection.
Hard-to-heal wounds are a challenge for the patient, the health professional and health-care systems. Chronic wounds create poor health and personal issues for the patient and substantial costs to health-care systems. There are known issues in the delivery of health care and in patient engagement with their therapy. A percentage of wounds may not heal completely for a year or more and this places a significant burden on health-care systems and economies.
There are many reasons why wounds fail to heal and new international consensus documents (TIMERS and wound hygiene) aim to focus the practitioner onto the reason why healing is delayed, trying to maximise the likelihood that wounds that have not healed over extended periods will progress. This session aims to bring this new theory and clinical practice together allowing attendees to review the new information and to reflect where and how to use it to underpin their own practice.
When a wound is hard-to-heal, the interruption in the healing process is largely associated with the presence of tenacious biofilm. Although other underlying host factors may also present obstacles to healing, it is increasingly acknowledged that a majority—if not all—non-healing wounds contain biofilm, which is a key barrier to healing.
Biofilm management is vital to achieve better outcomes and reduce the disease burden. The concept of Wound Hygiene first arose during an expert advisory board meeting held in early 2019. There, the international panel agreed that almost all hard-to-heal wounds contain biofilm, which delays or stalls healing and posed the important question: is the current standard of care for wound management adequate, given what we now know about biofilm?
The Wound Hygiene 4 Step Protocol was further defined at a subsequent expert meeting with publication of the International Consensus Document in Feb 2020. Wound Hygiene can be implemented into day-to-day practice and is based on the premise that, just as we follow basic hygiene everyday by washing our hands, brushing our teeth to manage dental plaque, so we should apply basic hygiene to wounds.
This Webinar will enhance knowledge to support and embed a real change in clinical practice. Phil Bowler will outline the role of biofilm, how it develops and acts as a primary barrier to healing followed by Dr Leanne Atkin who will demonstrate the benefits of implementing Wound Hygiene in your daily practice.
1, Schultz G, Bjarnsholt T, James GA et al. Consensus guidelines for the identification and treatment of biofilms in chronic nonhealing wounds.
Wound Repair Regen 2017;25:744–57. https://doi.org/10.1111/wrr.12590
2. Malone M, Swanson T. Biofilm-based wound care: the importance of debridement in biofilm treatment strategies. Br J Community Nurs 2017;22:S20–5.it is widely accepted that the majority of wounds not following a normal healing trajectory contain biofilm
3. Murphy C, Atkin L, Dissemond J et al. Defying hard-to-heal wounds with an early antibiofilm intervention strategy: “wound hygiene.” J Wound Care 2019;28:818–22. https://doi.org/10.12968/jowc.2019.28.12.818
During this session there will be an overview of surgical site infections and the current evidence base to inform SSI prevention in clinical practice.
The key components of the talk will be:
Professor Karen Ousey discusses how COVID-19 has challenged all aspect of healthcare, including both recognition and management of serious acute bacterial infection and effective delivery of antimicrobial stewardship.
Clinical signs and symptoms may not reveal the reasons chronic wounds fail to heal. A review of recent literature reveals that CSS is inaccurate in determining clinically significant bacterial load in chronic wounds. Swab cultures suffer from the same unreliability. Tissue cultures and molecular testing are more accurate, but the reports take days to return to the clinician. By this time the patient has left the clinic without needed antimicrobial therapy or on unnecessary antibiotics. This lecture will review point-of-care biomarker testing and fluorescence imaging as part of an outpatient antibiotic stewardship program.
Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) represent a high burden for patients, Health Care Professionals and health authorities. During this webinar, Pr Lazaro and Dr Ahluwalia present the International guidelines and their recommendations for the prevention and management of DFUs. In order to reduce healing time and to initiate the treatment the sooner, making the right diagnosis and implanting the best standard of care are key component to efficient DFUs management.
Wound dressing is of significant importance to promote wound healing process. TLC-NOSF technology has proven its efficacy to reduce healing time of DFUs and is the first and only dressing recommended by International guidelines. A fast-track pathway (FTP) DFUs was developed to allow a clear identification of DFU’s severity, specific management and appropriate and timely referral to a specialized setting. This FTP was adapted to the Covid-19 situation in order to adapt the DFUs management according to alert signs.