Wound care
Probst believes quality of life is an important outcome to measure in clinical studies, especially for older patients with non- healing wounds.
courses accredited by EWMA and UEMS are the standard in wound care education in Europe. “That means accredited courses have to use the EWMA documents and an interprofessional team that’s teaching [at the institution],” says Probst. “We also developed e-learning modules that can be done for free and started to endorse wound centres.” All of this, Probst says, is done to establish “a certain level of knowledge” in wound care, so that practitioners in all areas are aware of the possibilities that arise from different wound types and they know how to treat each one. Although EWMA is mainly concerned with wound care in Europe, the materials it publishes are available in any country that wishes to use them, and Probst says several wound centres in China have been given EWMA accreditation. “We also work closely with Australia, America and Canada, so there’s a lot of international partner organisations,” he adds.
Improving wound care
Every year EWMA runs a conference aimed to cultivate interest in wound care and bring those who are active in the field together for sessions that address the challenges facing them as well the new innovations that could give clinicians another tool for treating different wound types. “We have 11 streams, so it’s huge,” he says. “The sessions deal with artificial intelligence, telemedicine, advancement of education and research in relation to epidemiology, pathology, diagnosis, prevention or management of wounds.” Probst is especially excited about the inclusion of AI, because “this will be the future,” he says, and he’s also part of a project being funded by the Swiss government to
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develop an AI-driven smartphone app that can bring more objectivity to the measurement of wounds in the clinic. “When you take a picture with your smartphone, it will measure the wound and the algorithm will offer different pathways to help with the decision making for treatments and diagnostics,” he explains. “It’s not only for specialists, but for nurses and physicians that do not have a wound care education it should help to guide them.”
What’s next for wound care? Despite EWMA’s focus on the basics, technological advancement is important in wound care, with innovations like smart bandages and machine- learning powered diagnostic tools expected to revolutionise the field in the future. Here, too, EWMA hopes to play a role by bringing together engineers, clinicians and investors through its Innovation Forum. “It is difficult for start-ups to enter the market, so one of EWMA’s objectives is to enhance the development and availability of innovative wound care solutions for health care professionals, their patients and families,” says Probst. “We want to foster the development of innovative wound healing products from bench to bedside by enhancing contacts between innovative companies and established companies. Through [the Innovation Forum] we try to create and facilitate opportunities for strategic investment and partnerships, joint development, licensing, and mergers and acquisitions.” The forum will be the first iteration hosted by EWMA and will be part of the 2023 conference hosted by the organisation in Milan, Italy from 3–5 May this year.
Practical Patient Care /
www.practical-patient-care.com
Kzenon/
Shutterstock.com
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