Exit Poll Surveys
May 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Dear Today’s Wound Clinic subscriber,
To entice wound care professionals to complete Today’s Wound Clinic online surveys, HMP Communications, publisher of Today’s Wound Clinic, is offering four chances to win a complimentary autographed copy of the latest edition of Chronic Wound Care, and a new Grand Prize opportunity for those that complete all four surveys. Read more
Spring Advertiser’s Index
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
We would like to thank all of our advertisers for continuing to bring our readers the valuable content featured in the journal. Please view Today’s Wound Clinic’s Advertisers Spring Ads in TWC’s new digital edition, by clicking on the direct links.
Advertisers
Arobella Medical……………………………………………………34
See their ad here: Arobella Medical
Coloplast……………………………………………………………….7
See their ad here: Coloplast
Comprehensive Healthcare Solutions.……………………37
See their ad here: Comprehensive Healthcare Solutions
Convatec……………………………………………………………….32
See their ad here: Convatec
DermaRite……………………………………………………………..19
See their ad here: DermaRite
DermaSciences………………………………………………………Cover 3
See their ad here: DermaSciences
Hollister Wound Care…………………………………………….3
See their ad here: Hollister Wound Care
Johnson & Johnson Wound Management……………….Cover 2
See their ad here: Johnson & Johnson
KCI…………………………………………………………………………41
See their ad here: KCI
Med Efficiency………………………………………………………..39
See their ad here: Med Efficiency
Milliken & Company………………………………………………..47
See their ad here: Milliken & Company
Mölnlycke Health Care…………………………………………….5
See their ad here: Mölnlycke Health Care
Net Health……………………………………………………………….23,24,25
See their ad here: Net Health
Organogenesis………………………………………………………….Cover 4, 48
See their ad here: Organogenesis
Wound Care Strategies……………………………………………..29
See their ad here: Wound Care Strategies
Northern California’s Mecca of Wound Care
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
O’Connor Hospital’s Wound Care Clinic
San Jose, California
According to the current Medical Director, Peter Schubart, MD, PhD, it began when the hospital agreed to sign a contract with Curative Health Services (Nashua, NH) allowing the clinic to open its doors in 1992.
One patient was seen on the first day. Currently, the clinic averages 35–55 patients a day and offers 13,000 sq ft of space and 20 treatment rooms, with approximately 7,000 visits and 600 new patients per year.
The original clinical staff consisted of Dr. Schubart, vascular surgeon; Dr. Bruce Lerman, podiatry; and Dr. Jude Roussere, general surgeon. All of these physicians currently remain with the clinic. The facility currently employees 24 people including, two of the first RN staff.
For a free look at this complete article in the TWC digital edition visit:
InCentive Article
The Power of Paperless: Understanding EMRs
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
A s the wound care industry adapts to the paperless society and electronic medical records (EMRs), there is hesitation by some professionals to embrace the digital push. A large majority of healthcare transactions in the US still take place on paper.
However, our editors Caroline Fife, MD, FAAFP, CWS and Dot Weir, RN, CWON, CWS; and other industry professionals such as N. Blair Hughes, MHS, PT, CWS, director of specialty programs and wound care services for Frederick Memorial Healthcare System (FMHS), Frederick, Md, explain that there are many reasons for wound care facilities to start embracing the technological advantages that are available in EMRs. Fife, chief medical officer at Intellicure, Inc. (The Woodlands, Tex) reviews the company’s option for EMR. Weir, discusses an EMR option that her facility has been using for years, provided by Net Health Systems (Pittsburgh, Pa). Finally, Hughes discusses the EMR option used at her center (FMHS’s Advanced Skin & Wound Care Center) since 2000, provided by Wound Care Strategies (Harrisburg, Pa).
Regardless of their affiliations and personal experiences with the three different companies, Fife, Weir, and Hughes raise some very valuable points and are all advocates of adopting an EMR system in a wound care clinic setting.
For a free look at this complete article in the TWC digital edition visit:
InTech Article
Editor’s Message: On Demand: Bridging the Gap
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
TWC has great potential for expanding and reaching new readers via the Internet while still providing our valued product in print. We don’t believe that the digital edition will replace the print issue. In fact, we suggest that you subscribe to both in order to have our content available on demand, anytime and anywhere you want it.
Our IT team has partnered with Nxtbook Media to give our paying subscribers the added bonus of receiving a digital edition when they subscribe to the print journal. Readers also will have the option of subscribing to the digital edition alone at a discounted rate.
The staff at HMP, invites everyone to a free preview of TWC’s digital edition of the Winter 2008 issue at: http://digital.todayswoundclinic.com/nxtbooks/hmp/twc_2008winter/
Survey Says
TWC is your source for the latest information on wound care clinic operations. Through our Exit Polls, we are actively collecting information on the industry in four separate survey categories. We will analyze this information and with our readers help, we will define the industry. Your participation in these surveys is essential for creating knowledge and standards of practice in management across the wound care industry. All responses are completely confidential and for research purposes only. The Spring survey will cover staff responsibilities. A link to participate in both the Winter and Spring online survey can be found on the home page of TodaysWoundClinic.com, under Exit Polls. Thank you in advance for your participation.
In late April, TWC staff will be attending SAWC (www.sawc.net) in San Diego, Calif. I look forward to meeting many of you for the first time and the opportunity to discuss your needs and goals for the journal and what topics you would like to see covered. Your feedback on the journal is not only wanted and needed but is crucial for the success of the publication. Please email me anytime to share your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Managing Editor
jcalder@hmpcommunications.com
For a preview of this note in TWC’s digital edition, visit
Editor’s Message
Documenting Your Success
May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
There is an ancient Chinese proverb which says, the palest ink is better than the best memory. This issue is about medical documentation. These days, documentation may or may not be done with ink, but there is no question about the importance of providing a record of the care we have provided. The issue of documentation is enormously complex. The topic includes not only how information is to be collected (with paper, electronically or even some mixture of the two), but also how information will be used.
To begin, we will take a 30,000-foot view of documentation, that includes general principles—which must be observed, and the rules that govern physician and facility documentation. Do you know where your medical records are? The answer can be more complex than one might think. In a modern clinic, the medical record, rather than being a collection of paper, might consist of many different types of data that are, stored in several ways. For example, how are the digital photos identified as part of the legal chart?
In fact, wound photography can become an important legal discussion. Val Sullivan will discuss what types of equipment work best for documentation and the litigation process, with nurse legal consultant Mary Bruno.
With regard to data, how do data get into the medical chart? Do you have an audit system to ensure the quality of the data in your charts? Moira Hayes will discuss documentation compliance programs, which are critical to having a successful clinic.
Have you thought about transitioning to an electronic medical record system? We will take a close look at three options for documentation. Dot will discuss how she uses NetHealth’s WoundExpert System, (Pittsburgh, Pa), Caroline will discuss how she uses Intellicure’s Electronic Medical Record, The Woodlands, Texas, and N. Blair Hughes, MHS, PT, CWS will review the option provided by Wound Care Strategies, Inc., Harrisburg, Pa.
In our InBusiness section, Kathy Schaum will discuss how Medicare contractors include documentation guidelines in their Local Coverage Determinations and Articles, using examples from actual wound care related LCDs and Articles.
Would you like to sound like an expert? You will after you read Heidi Mueller’s InFluence section. She will tell what (and when) to copy to your referring physicians, and what to include in progress reports.
You are sure to enjoy our featured wound care center, the O’Connor Wound Care Clinic, and the Q&A with Medical Director Peter Schubart, MD, PhD.
Lastly, don’t miss a preview of our next online survey in Exit Polls. Our
Medical documentation will determine the success of your facility. No topic may be more important to Today’s Wound Clinic. We think this is our best issue yet, and we hope you agree.
Caroline Fife, MD, FAAFP, CWS and Dot Weir, RN, CWON, CWS
For a free preview of this complete article in the TWC digital edition visit:
Introduction
Pneumatic Compression Pump Therapy:
March 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
An Evidence-based Approach to the Treatment of
Chronic Vascular Disorders
Teresa Conner-Kerr, PT, PhD, CWS, CLT
The importance of compression therapy in treating tissue swelling associated with lymphedema and venous insufficiency is well recognized by wound management practitioners. Compression therapy is delivered by a variety of methods with differing levels of evidence to support the use of specific compression modalities. Treatment algorithms prepared by experts from a variety of disciplines using original research are available that provide evidence ratings for particular compression modalities.1,2
In The Venous Ulcer Guideline developed by the Government and Regulatory Task Force of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care, an “A” level of evidence was assigned to eight different compression therapy options.2 One of the eight therapeutic modalities receiving an “A” level rating was intermittent pneumatic compression.
Pneumatic compression pumps have been in use since the 1960s for the treatment of limb swelling due to both acute and chronic conditions. Pneumatic compression pumps consist of an electric pneumatic pump that is used to push compressed room air into an inflatable garment or sleeve either continuously or intermittently depending on inflation and deflation times. Most pneumatic compression pumps today use intermittent compression cycles with inflation and deflation cycles either preset or programmable by the clinician. The sleeve or garment may have a single chamber design with one port or a multiple chamber design with one port per chamber. Pressure may be graded with the highest pressures in distal chamber segments. Depending on the specific manufacturer, compression cycles, treatment times, and compression levels may be either preset or programmable. Multichamber sequential compression pumps typically provide the greatest programming flexibility. Newer compression pump technology such as the Lympha-pants™ (LymphaCare, New York, NY) employs large multi-segment chambers that cover bilateral limbs and the lower or upper trunk simultaneously so that a comprehensive treatment may be delivered in a more efficient manner. The sequential inflation of chambers from distal to proximal in these devices is also thought to more naturally mimic lymph return.
For a preview of this article in TWC’s digital edition, visit
InTech
Subscribers can log in to view the entire issue.
Houston’s Healers: Approaching 20 Years of Wound Care
March 17, 2008 | 1 Comment
The Memorial Hermann Wound and Lymphedema Center
Houston, Texas
The Memorial Hermann Wound and Lymphedema Center Houston, Tex, will soon mark its 20th anniversary. Opened as the Hermann Center for Hyperbaric Medicine in 1989 with one nurse and a technical staff, it evolved in response to the needs of patients and the changing field of wound care. Wound healing (which includes a venous stasis clinic) and lymphedema divisions were added to the center’s operations in response to the lack of facilities available for patient referrals requiring chronic wound care.
The center has met many challenges from educating the staff to integrating computer technology, operating with a small advertising budget, and adjusting to changes in Medicare.
TWC asked Vonda Wall, Administrative Director Outpatient Diagnostic and Procedural Services for Memorial Hermann Hospital, to fill in some of the details of the center’s operations.
For a preview of this article in TWC’s digital edition, visit
InCentive
Subscribers can log in to view the entire issue.
A Brand New World
March 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Welcome to the first 2008 issue of Today’s Wound Clinic. Hopefully, you found the two 2007 issues relevant and meaningful and are ready to embark on a new year of sharing clinical and practical information.
The four quarterly issues of TWC this year focus on topics that present multifaceted, clinical, reimbursement, and management challenges. Chris Morrison will introduce a new online feature “Exit Polls” that comprises a quarterly survey — results to be published in subsequent issues with a culminating detailed analysis available in an article or supplement at the end of the year. These results also will be available online to subscribers.
The current issue highlights the patient with lower extremity edema, both venous and lymphatic (ie, lymphedema). Our cover story by Susan Gallagher Camden and Tere Sigler examines the unique clinical challenges related to obesity and lymphedema, compares lymphedema and lipedema, and offers suggestions for safe handling of the obese patient in the clinic setting. Commentary on the state of the art management of venous stasis ulcers, a historical perspective, usual healing rates, and what might be going on with the “non-healers” also is provided. In the InBusiness section, Kathleen Schaum discusses the disparity among Medicare contractors regarding the appropriate CPT® code for the application of multilayered, sustainted, graduated high compression systems. After researching all the available Medicare LCDs and Articles regarding the disparate coverage for these compression systems, she shares her research via a comprehensive table. InStruction offers information from Val Sullivan and Dot Weir on different categories of and how to handle some of the pitfalls of compression. InTech presents Teresa Conner-Kerr’s examination of the role of compression pumps. InCentive spotlights The Memorial Hermann Wound and Lymphedema Center and its upcoming 20th anniversary.
Today’s Wound Clinic has gained tremendous momentum by presenting important and timely topics related to our very specialized practice. We hope you enjoy this issue. Share it with your colleagues, make it a topic of discussion at your staff meetings, and send us feedback. Let us help you improve your wound care practice.
Dot Weir, RN, CWON, CWS
Caroline Fife, MD, CWS
For a preview of this article in TWC’s digital edition, visit
Editor’s Note
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New Wound Care Center Serves a Remote Area
October 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Hyperbaric and Wound Care Center at Davis Hospital
LAYTON, UTAH
The Northern Utah area was totally underserved for specialized wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy until the Hyperbaric and Wound Care Center at Davis Hospital opened in April 2007.An outpatient service of the largest hospital in the county, the wound center is located in a new office building next to the hospital Emergency Room. Davis Hospital is owned by Iasis HealthCare.
