As part of its mission to promote wound, ostomy and continence specialty nursing practice, the WOCN Society produces a variety of resources for members, including Position Papers, Fact Sheets, White Papers, Quick Reference Guides and Clinical Practice Guidelines. Traditionally, these resources have been made available to members through a variety of venues, including direct mailings, blast e-mails, communications posted on the WOCN web site (http://www.wocn.org/), and the WOCN Store. Now, for the first time, the WOCN Society has collected 5 essential documents and bundled them together in a Special Supplement of the Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing. This format provides every WOCN member with immediate access to the latest fact sheets, position statements, white papers and reference guides for clinical practice.
The supplement opens with the WOCN Position Statement about the Role and Scope of Practice for Wound Care Providers. This cutting edge document, originated by our Wound Treatment Associate Task Force, clarifies the role of WOC specialty nurses, WOC advanced practice registered nurses, and wound treatment associates. Whether you are a WOC nurse seeking to clarify the role of the wound care team in your local facility, or you wish to educate colleagues about the Society's new Wound Treat Associate education program, this document provides essential knowledge clarifying the role of each of these clinicians within wound care.
Reimbursement for services is an ongoing issue that impacts all WOC nurses and cuts across care settings. The Special Supplement contains 2 documents that address this central issue. The first is a Fact Sheet that explains Medicare Part B "Incident to" billing policies. Authored by members of the National Public Policy Committee's Incident to Work Group, this fact sheet provides a succinct and understandable guide to Medicare Part B policies governing delivery of incident to services, its documentation, and policies governing appropriate supervision and related billing for these essential WOC nursing services. The second is a Fact Sheet about reimbursement for advanced practice registered nurse services. This document was produced through collaboration between the WOCN Reimbursement Task Force and National Public Policy Committee. It contains essential information for every WOC nurse with advanced practice nurse credentials, or any member who is considering additional education as an advanced practice nurse.
In addition to these must read professional practice documents, this Special Supplement also features 2 must read clinical practice documents. The first is a White Paper produced by collaboration between the WOCN Wound Committee and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). It has undergone 2 important updates; the latest was completed in 2011. This document defines important and often confusing information about clean versus sterile techniques, aseptic technique, along with emerging concepts of bacterial contamination, colonization, critical colonization, and infection in a wound. The information contained in this updated White Sheet is essential to any clinician who provides care for patients with an acute or chronic wound.
The second clinical document is a quick reference guide for Ankle-Brachial Index measurement, accompanied by a research based protocol for use when performing ABI. Produced by the WOCN Clinical Practice Wound Committee in 2005; it also underwent a substantial update in 2011. The information in the quick reference guide is a must read for every WOC nurse who manages patients with lower extremity arterial disease or lower extremity ulcerations. Its importance to our practice will only continue to grow as advancing technology increases the number of WOC nurses who perform ABI using hand-held equipment in a variety of care settings.
In addition to the printed supplement, these references will be indexed in the Journal's web page (http://journals.lww.com/jwocnonline/pages/default.aspx). This Special Supplement is the first time the WOCN Society has collected multiple documents addressing the latest professional and clinical practice issues. We look forward to continuing to using the Journal as one more opportunity to provide members with tools that are essential for your practice.
Kathleen Lawrence, MSN, RN, CWOCN
President WOCN Society
Mikel Gray, PhD, FNP, PNP, CUNP, CCCN, FAANP, FAAN
Editor in Chief