It is a rare person that can command the resources to take a project or product full circle. In my frame of reference, one of the rarest of individuals, who has accomplished the exceptional feat of initiating, sustaining, growing, and developing a loyal following in the wound care and education business, is our colleague, Sharon Baranoski, MSN, RN, CWOCN, APN, DAPWCA, FAAN. Ms Baranoski has been a sustainer of quality education, providing learning and mentoring opportunities for a generation of wound care specialists. This includes baby boomers, Generation Jones, and Generations X, Y, and Z-in particular, those providing "point of service" or bedside care.
I first met Ms Baranoski at the Silver Cross Clinical Wound Care Symposium in Joliet, Illinois, nearly 2 decades ago when I received the Bio-Sonics (LUNEX) Award for Innovations in Pressure Ulcer Research, for the biomedical research of pressure ulcers (PrUs). Over the years, Ms Baranoski has been an absolute icon in the field of wound care education. I was impressed by her ability and palpable core competency in professional wound care education.
In 1985, Ms Baranoski directed and founded the Clinical Symposium on Advances in Skin & Wound Care, which remains the preeminent wound care conference in the United States. This month, the 24th annual symposium will be held in San Antonio, Texas. It is to her credit that the symposium flourished and grew into the international event that it is today. Although Ms Baranoski is a prolific educator, speaker, clinician, and manager, she is not just a "talking head." She has a profound base of clinical acumen.
During her career, Ms Baranoski has developed and directed wound care centers for a quarter of a century, including the establishment of a hyperbaric medicine department. Presently, she is president of Wound Care Dynamics, in Joliet, Illinois, an independent wound care consulting company where she furthers her work in PrUs. As an internationally recognized leader in the wound care field, she has provided guidance to the World Union of Wound Healing Societies conference in 2008; served on the accreditation committee for the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses (WOCN) Society; served on an expert panel for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); presented several times to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), related to PrUs and wound care; and has also served as a consultant to CMS.
From 1997 to 2001, Ms Baranoski was on the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel's (NPUAP's) board of directors, serving as education chair and co-chair of the Biennial Conference, as well as president for 2 years. She is a member of the European Wound Management Association, World Council of Enterostomal Therapists, American Nurses Association, the Illinois Nurses Association, and WOCN, where she chaired the Support Surfaces Committee. Ms Baranoski is among the few nurses who have been elected as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing; she also serves on the board of American Professional Wound Care Association. In addition, she has coauthored 2 editions of Wound Care Essentials: Practice Principles, which was named an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year. This book is widely used by healthcare professionals working in the areas of PrUs and wound care.
In the area of public policy, Ms Baranoski has worked tirelessly to advance the national policy agenda for PrUs by doing presentations to CMS on competitive bidding, serving on the advisory panel for Home Health OASIS Data, and serving as a consultant on practice guidelines for negative pressure wound therapy. She served on the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Technical Expert Panel for AHRQ. As president of NPUAP, Ms Baranoski was involved with PrU public policy at the national level. Moreover, she served on a committee responsible for writing the guideline statements on dressings for PrUs.
Ms Baranoski has influenced and directed, as well as provided, care for patients with PrUs for nearly 30 years. For her unselfish and indefatigable devotion to the field of wound care, she was awarded the coveted NPUAP Kosiak Award earlier this year.
In summary, leadership is about presence, sustainability, and the development of a loyal following. Ms Baranoski started our conference with a targeted vision and the focus to sustain this preeminent conference for all wound care practitioners, irrespective of title, degree, or station. She developed the conference for all of us, especially those at the bedside and the point of service.
Ms Baranoski's teaching philosophy embodies this ancient Chinese proverb: "Tell me, I'll forget. Show me, I may remember. But involve me, and I'll understand."
It is fitting that we celebrate the 24th Annual Clinical Symposium on Advances in Skin & Wound Care in San Antonio. To me, the reason people like to hear about the battle for the Alamo is because the volunteers who defended the Alamo stood for something and were willing to fight for it. Sharon Baranoski believes in high-quality education and clinical care, and she has fought for that all of her career.
Richard "Sal" Salcido, MD