The TWC Editorial Board labored over how to address the important, controversial, and confusing topic of debridement. An integral part of the day-to-day care provided in hospital-owned outpatient wound care departments (HOPDs), debridement removes devitalized tissue from a wound that otherwise would be slower to heal, at higher risk for infection, and not receptive to more advanced topical treatments such as wound matrix technology, negative pressure wound therapy, growth factors, and bioengineered tissues.

Surgical wound debridement is not a technically difficult skill to learn once you un

Education is a never-ending process of acquiring knowledge and skills and developing powers of reason and judgment. In an independent wound clinic, educational responsibilities are handled in-house. The following discussion offers insights into the way one independent wound clinic, the Archbold Center for Wound Management, Thomasville, Ga, addresses staff educational and training needs.

Background. Our wound care program consists of an outpatient clinic where patients are seen both for MD appointments as well as regularly scheduled wound care. We also consult on acute care patients with c

Modern literature on debridement initially centered on the life-saving benefits of debriding wounds sustained during war. The impact of debridement on decreasing war wound-related mortality was so profound that a century ago the concept of radical debridement became a dogmatic imprint on surgical mentality that has only recently been challenged.1,2

Traditional surgical debridement involves a centripetal technique: extirpation of the wound including a margin of healthy tissue. The goal of surgery is to eradicate all necrotic tissue and debris. In some wounds, which may track subcutaneously,