Hyperbaric Oxygen Use in Wound Healing

Different methods exist to enhance healing. And with hyperbaric treatment, even the most complex and pervasive wounds can benefit.

The air we breathe is approximately 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen, and small amounts of other gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and neon. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO or HBOT) is a treatment where patients breathe in near 100% oxygen in a pressurized environment.

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Making an Impact: Successful Wound Care Poster Presentations

If you’re interested in submitting a poster presentation for the Wild on Wounds (WOW) conference, you’ll want to highlight your research findings in a visually appealing and succinct way.

“Poster presentations are a great way for clinicians to showcase their hard work on a project,” suggested Diana Ramirez-Ripp, HMCC, CWCMS, manager of live events for WCEI. “The content of the poster should interest your audience and provide a clear take-home message that attendees can grasp in a few moments.”

At the upcoming WOW conference, you’ll have the opportunity to share your research and accomplishments with other wound care professionals through poster abstracts. Posters are a standard at many conferences, and at WOW they include inspiring and thought-provoking presentations in various areas of wound care. These presentations combine text and visuals to share evidence-based knowledge in practice with WOW attendees.

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Cellulitis Wounds: Causes, Care, and Complications

As a wound care professional, it’s likely you frequently encounter patients with cellulitis. A solid understanding of cellulitis wounds will give you the knowledge necessary to help you properly care for this population of patients.

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Avulsion Wounds: Descriptions and Treatments

Trauma can cause a wide variety of wounds with different degrees of severity. One common wound category that healthcare providers and wound care specialists encounter are avulsion wounds.

To learn more about avulsion wounds, we spoke with Preston “Chip” Rich, MD, MBA and Medical Director of Trauma Services at MemorialCare’s Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Long Beach, California.

As an attending staff member at his facility, he specializes in trauma surgery, treating victims of trauma and those requiring intensive critical care from their injuries. Rich and his colleagues see a spectrum of injuries, including complicated avulsion injuries.

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How To Get Approval To Attend a Wound Care Conference

Healthcare conferences and in-person training events are valuable opportunities for specialists and caregivers in any stage of their careers. After years of virtual formats due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attendees are eager to reengage face-to-face.

With many organizations and health systems short on staff and budget, gaining approval to attend conferences can be challenging. Having a well-planned strategy can better your chances of approval to travel for in-person events.

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Diabetic Toenails: Watch for Change

Changes in the diabetic foot can happen fast: here are the signs and types clinicians in wound care need to look for. As a wound care professional, chances are you’ve treated a number of nail conditions and abnormalities that occur among the general population.

But when you’re working with diabetic patients, noticing and identifying variations is even more crucial. This is because change can happen more rapidly in the diabetic foot, and pathologies in diabetic toenails can ultimately lead to skin breakdown, foot ulcerations and infection.

So, what causes the nails to change? What exactly should you look for? We’ve got you covered.

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3 Types of Wound Closure and What They Mean

As a wound care clinician, you know the wound healing process has many moving parts, including types of wound closures.

In wound care, the goal should be to heal the wound as soon as possible and to keep it healed. And with wound healing, there are three types of wound closure techniques to consider to achieve this — primary intention, secondary intention, and tertiary intention.

The selection of wound closure type depends on how the wound is presented. Noting physical characteristics like exudate color or wound size can help you identify the correct course of treatment and the most appropriate type to use.

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Venous Ulcers vs. Arterial Ulcers

Understanding the differences between arterial and venous ulcers is important in the effective treatment of lower leg and foot wounds. Determining the type of vascular wound you are dealing with can save vast amounts of time in the healing process. Let’s look at some of those differences and how to treat each type.

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Burn Wound Care

Our skin is the largest organ of our body. It is our protection from injury and harmful substances. It prevents moisture loss, regulates our internal temperature, shields us from germs, protects us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, and allows us to feel sensations such as touch.

Burns are common trauma wounds that disrupt skin’s protective function. The consequences of that disruption range from minor to fatal. A burn may be caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, friction, and radiation. Providing proper burn wound care as soon as possible will benefit treatment.

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Exudate: What the Types and Quantities Tell You

For successful wound treatment and healing, it’s vital to understand the different types of exudate and how much is present.

Ooze. Pus. Secretion. The drainage that seeps out of wounds can go by many names, but as wound care clinicians, you know the technical term is exudate. This liquid is produced by the body in response to tissue damage and tells you all you need to know about the wound.

Dianna Dashner, DNP, FNP-C, WCC, CLNC, LLE, Senior Nurse Practitioner at ProMedica Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation said it’s important to know the type and amount of exudate because this will direct the type of treatment.

“For example, the use of a calcium alginate necessitates moderate to heavy exudate,” she said. “If the wound has purulent drainage, you will want to thoroughly cleanse the wound to remove all the exudate and then culture the wound.” She added that if an infection is suspected and there is moderate to heavy drainage, a calcium alginate with silver may be a good choice for treatment. Her example highlights the significance that the amount and type of exudate makes in wound treatment.

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