Globalization of Wound Care
The journal Advances in Skin & Wound Care is an effective medium for transmitting timely research and educational information to students, clinicians, academicians, researchers, manufacturers, and public policy makers around the world. We literally receive and publish manuscripts from continents all over the world including Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.
A Learning Organization
All of this activity requires a high level of effective transdisciplinary communication, learning, and teaching, underscoring our role as a learning organization-our raison d'etre. The journal's staff, the "quiet professionals" of Senior Editorial Coordinator Barbara Miller, Senior Managing Editor Kathleen Greaves, and Executive Publisher Theresa Steltzer, provides a solid framework and organizational structure for our smooth, albeit tedious, processing of our regular issues. The global ambassadors for the journal are our clinical associate editors, Elizabeth A. Ayello, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, CWON, MAPWCA, FAAN, and R. Gary Sibbald, MD, MEd, BSc, FRCPC(Med)(Derm), MACP, FAAD, MAPWCA, who indefatigably foster frequent and regular connections in the global wound care arena; they are indeed the "state department" for the journal. Ultimately, the engine that drives the journal is the readership, sponsors, and peer reviewers; collectively, they create a vast array of professional communication networks resulting in frequent and regular teaching and learning opportunities through the journal.
Interprofessional Education
Interprofessional education, as defined by the World Health Organization, involves shared learning among students from 2 or more health professions. In this month's continuing medical education (CME) activity, "The Anatomy and Physiology of a CME Article" on page 312, the elements for learning and publishing are carefully packaged to provide the readership a "road map" for participatory scholarship in the global wound care community.
Two new reports released on May 3, 2011, by 6 national health profession associations and 3 private foundations recommend new competencies for interprofessional education in the healthcare professions and action strategies to implement them in institutions across the country. The proponents believe our nation's healthcare system can be transformed to provide collaborative, high-quality, and cost-effective care to better serve every patient.
The first report, Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, was convened in 2009 by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC), a unique partnership of 6 associations-including the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the Association of American Medical Colleges, among others.
The second report, Team-Based Competencies, Building a Shared Foundation for Education and Clinical Practice, was the result of a conference, sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Josiah Macy Jr Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation in partnership with IPEC. In February 2011, the participants developed action strategies to implement the IPEC core competencies and educate health professionals to work collaboratively.
The aforementioned concepts, competencies, and initiatives certainly set high but achievable goals and tremendous opportunities in revamping healthcare education. It has been said that "opportunity favors the prepared," and prepared we are. I'm gratified that Advances in Skin & Wound Care and our international Clinical Symposium on Advances in Skin & Wound Care exemplify "interprofessional education." Although the concept of interprofessional education is not new to us, we can do even more and perhaps lead the way!
Healthcare professions can no longer live in silos; we must drive transdisciplinary channels of communication through those silos for the sake of our patients, safety, efficacy, outcomes, and the betterment of healthcare delivery.
Richard "Sal" Salcido, MD
Selected References