IN THIS ISSUE OF JWOCN

This issue of the Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing (JWOCN) brings together a dynamic group of authors from across the globe and covers a variety of cutting-edge and clinically relevant issues. This issue's authors include physicians, WOC and other nurses, along with clinical and basic researchers and statisticians from the United States (Sacramento, California; Rockford, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Lansing, Michigan; Durham, North Carolina); Alberta, Canada; Tehran, Iran; Italy (San Donato, Milan); Tokyo, Japan; Wanju, South Korea; and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Your Ostomy Care section includes a report by Federica Dellafiore, Gianluca Conte, Irene Baroni, Francesco Pittella, Cristina Di Pasquale, Tiziana Nania, Carla Saracco, Gabriele Roveron, and Rosario Caruso on the development and testing of the OAI-23 (Ostomy Adjustment Inventory-23). You will want to read this article to determine whether you should consider use of this instrument as you care for patients adjusting to a new ostomy.

Your Continence Care section includes a quality improvement project that describes a program designed to measure 4 common forms of MASD in conjunction with NDNQI surveillance for pressure injuries. You will want to read this article to compare their reported prevalence of MASD with your facility's prevalence and to determine if the process they used to measure this important skin condition is relevant to your facility's policies and procedures related to assessment, prevention, and management of MASD.

Aeyoung So, Jennie De Gagne, and Sunah Park report a study of long-term effects of a self-management program for urinary incontinence in a group of elderly community-dwelling women. You will want to read this important study that adds even more evidence that behaviorally based self-management programs are effective for alleviating urinary incontinence in community-dwelling women. Nicholas Smith, Kathleen Hunter, Saima Rajabali, Ian Milsom, and Adrian Wagg describe their study of where women with urinary incontinence find information about body-worn absorbent products. The WOCN Society is in the process of developing an algorithm to aid WOC nurses and other clinicians during selection, use, and evaluation of body-worn absorbent products. This article qualifies as must read not only because it identifies sources of information about absorbent product use but also because it elucidates who patients want to hear from when seeking to manage their urinary leakage.

Your Wound Care section includes a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that examined the efficacy of larval therapy on diabetic foot ulcers. Evidence consistently indicates that larval therapy exerts multiple benefits on wound healing in infected or "dirty" wounds.1 This cutting-edge RCT, authored by Azam Malekian, Gholamreza Djavid, Kamran Akbarzadeh, Mehdi Soltandallal, Yavar Rassi, Javad Rafinejad, Abbas Foroushani, Amirreza Farhoud, Ronak Bakhtiary, and Mehrangiz Totonchi, evaluates one mechanism of larval therapy, its ability to reduce bioburden in the wound bed. You will want to read this cutting-edge article to determine the effect of larval therapy on Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Jain Joseph, Dylan Mclaughlin, Vigen Darian, Lillian Hayes, and Aamir Siddiqui report findings from a prospective case series that compared intraoperative pressure injury rates before and following introduction of an alternating pressure overlay. Did the addition of this pressure redistributing device reduce intraoperative pressure injury? Did it disrupt workflow in the surgical suite? Read on and find out!

Margeaux Chavez, Allyson Duffy, Deborah Rugs, Linda Cowan, Avaretta Davis, Storm Morgan, and Gail Powell-Cope report a national quality improvement project that examined documentation practices in the largest health system in the United States, the Department of Veterans Affairs. You will want to read this lucid and engaging article to determine if the methods used by these authors might be adapted to your documentation and ranking of pressure injuries.

This issue's Wound Care section closes with an integrative review of prevention and management of incontinence-associated dermatitis in the pediatric population. This article qualifies as cutting-edge because it extends recent research in the adult population into the pediatric population, identifies gaps in this area of practice, and emphasizes the need to reconcile incontinence-associated dermatitis across the life span. Read the article, and complete the attached CE!

This issue's Challenges in Practice section continues our recent expansion to 2 or more cases, reflecting the global interest in practice that exists at the edge and beyond current best evidence. Charleen Singh and Noordeen Shoqirat report a case series that examined pressure injury occurrences in critically ill infants and younger children who are too large for an isolette yet too small for a regular bed. You will want to read this cutting-edge article to see if this support surface should be incorporated into your facility's pressure injury prevention program.

Deanna Johnson's lucid and cogent article argues that congenital pressure injuries exist, are clinically relevant, and deserve additional study. This article qualifies as must read for every WOC nurse who cares for neonates at risk for pressure or related skin injuries and for every WOC nurse researcher interested in exploring similarities and differences in the epidemiology, character, and location of pressure injuries in infants and children. You will also want to read Dr Singh's response to this highly innovative and provocative assertion. Have you seen evidence of congenital pressure injuries? Does your clinical experience indicate this is a prevalent and unrecognized phenomenon or a rare event with dubious attribution? I urge you to join in the conversation with other concerned, caring, and supportive clinical colleagues!

Phillip Botham and Jessica Simmons coauthored this issue's Getting Ready for Certification feature. This section always qualifies as must read, whether you are a CWOCN, CWCN, COCN, CCCN, CFCN, or advanced practice WOC practitioner. I assert that the knowledge from this feature of JWOCN is useful when used as a means to prepare for recertification via examination, a recent graduate of a WOCNEP seeing initial certification, or a certified WOC nurse precepting or mentoring others seeking to become a certified nurse in our essential specialty practice.

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