APWCA
With a stellar multidisciplinary, international faculty, the recent American Professional Wound Care Association (APWCA) National Clinical Conference, "Wound Care and the Related Sciences," held in Philadelphia, PA, delivered on its educational mission of providing attendees with a cutting-edge scientific program.
The APWCA's motto is "Synergy of Disciplines in Wound Care," and it was strongly in evidence at this year's conference: Practitioners in every discipline in wound care were in attendance, with representatives from all 50 states, as well as other areas of North America. The collegial atmosphere of the conference encouraged lively debate among practitioners and allowed attendees one-on-one networking opportunities with leaders in the field and representatives from industry.
Among the informative preconference courses were choices for novice to experienced practitioners, including "The Basics: Fundamentals in Wound Healing," with course directors Elizabeth A. Ayello, PhD, RN, APRN,BC, CWOCN, FAPWCA, FAAN, and Sharon Baranoski, MSN, RN, CWOCN, APN, DAPWCA, FAAN, and "Current Concepts and New Techniques: Advanced Wound Care Course," with Robert Frykberg, DPM, MPH, FAPWCA, and Steven Kravitz, DPM, FAPWCA, FACFAS, serving as course directors. Faculty for the basics course offered an overview of diabetic, pressure, and vascular ulcers; pain and chronic wounds; infection and osteomyelitis; debridement principles; off-loading; wound dressing selection; and negative pressure wound therapy. Similar topics were covered in the advanced course, but at a different level of complexity.
The next day, Andrew Boulton, MD, kicked off the main conference with a lecture on contact casting. He discussed new evidence on options for off-loading the diabetic foot, including the "instant" total contact cast (iTCC), a removable cast walker rendered irremovable by wrapping it with a single layer of fiberglass casting material. In recent studies, the iTCC has been found to be as effective as the total contact cast (TCC) in treating diabetic neuropathic plantar foot ulcers. Plus it was faster to place, easier to use, and less expensive than the TCC.
Other sessions the first day covered the problem of diabetic foot ulcers that will not heal; nutritional aspects of wound healing; wound dressings; the APWCA's research project on the use of Immunocal, a protein product that delivers cysteine to the cells; hyperbaric oxygen; and the development of a successful wound care center.
On the final day, the annual APWCA scientific lecture, "Converting the Non-Healing Wound to a Healing Wound: Cellular and Molecular Approaches to Wound Management," was delivered by William Li, MD, president, medical director, and co-founder of The Angiogenesis Foundation, Cambridge, MA. Dr Li noted that chronic wounds are different in their cellular and biochemical makeup from acute wounds and that these nonhealing wounds need to be rebalanced for healing to progress. Strategies for accomplishing this include debridement of necrotic tissue and senescent cells, use of topical antimicrobials (including silver-based topical dressings), use of growth factors, and use of specialty products that rebalance proteases, he said.
Dr Boulton's lecture on the final day of the conference focused on neuropathy in patients with diabetes. He referred attendees to the American Diabetes Association's just-published position statement on screening for neuropathy. See In the Spotlight in this section for more information on the position statement.
Other topics covered on the final day included proactive versus reactive foot surgery, atypical ulcers, an update on the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel's recent consensus conference on deep tissue injury, treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, vascular surgery, and angiogenesis.
Next year, the APWCA's National Conference will move to a larger facility in Philadelphia to accommodate the conference's growth. The conference will be held April 6-8, 2006, at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza. For more information, visit http://www.apwca.org.