Authors

  1. Ayello, Elizabeth A. PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, CWON, ETN, MAPWCA, FAAN
  2. Salcido, Richard "Sal" MD, EdD
  3. Sibbald, R. Gary BSc, MD, MEd, FRCPC (Med, Derm), MACP, FAAD, MAPWCA

Article Content

With this issue, we mark the 30th volume anniversary of our wound care journal. The editorial team thanks our readers for their continued loyalty and our authors, editorial advisory board, and peer-review panel for their valuable contributions as we strive to uphold and expand the inaugural vision of this publication.

 

For 30 years, the journal of Advances in Skin & Wound Care has been the vanguard of providing practical outcome-oriented wound care education through a variety of pedagogies in the 3 domains of learning: (1) cognitive: mental skills, (2) affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas, and (3) psychomotor: manual or physical skills.1 Most wound care education has been provided by an interprofessional team that includes nurses, physicians from multiple specialties, and allied health professionals (eg, physical therapists, occupational therapists), and healthcare system support (policy makers, payers/providers, administrators, and politicians). Educational programs should emphaze the importance of patients being the center of care with patient empowerment to facilitate patient-centered concerns (pain control, activities of daily living, and patient support systems). This collaborative education process includes written reviews, continuing medical education activities, and hands-on training at the point of care across the globe. Active wound care education inextricably links the education process to improved patient outcomes and optimal health of the population. According to the Porter model of Healthcare,2 enhanced patient care is facilitated by interprofessional teams that are integrated, coordinated, and bounded by their professions and interprofessional education. This model emphasizes the need for value for our healthcare dollar and not more dollars in the healthcare system.

 

The late Roberta Abruzzese, EdD, RN, founder and first editor of this publication, believed in the central role of education. The journal has evolved from its first name, Decubitus; it was renamed Advances in Wound Care; and is now known as Advances in Skin & Wound Care. Dr Abruzzese was an early adopter and staunch proponent of the interprofessional team educational model. Her words ring true today: "These experts agree that the problem of pressure ulcers belongs to no one group of healthcare professionals; all on the healthcare team must work together to diminish the incidence and severity of pressure ulcers."3 Her inspiration for the journal is enduring in that we have remained a "primary resource of the relevant scientific information that the interprofessional team needs to succeed in preventing and treating pressure ulcers."3 As the journal evolved, it mirrored the necessary collaboration of the interprofessional team when the late JoAnn Maklebust, DNP, MSN, RN, ACNS-BC, AOCN, FAAN, and David J. Margolis, MD, PhD, succeeded Dr Abruzzese as co-editors-in-chief. They defined their mission "to continue to be the scholarly voice of wound care."4

 

Over the past 30 years, there has been a knowledge explosion for both generalists and specialists in skin and wound care expertise to deliver safe and applicable care. While the Institute of Medicine report called for a "new vision for health professions education" that stated "all health professionals should be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members of an interdisciplinary team, emphasizing evidence-based practice, quality improvement approaches, and informatics,"5 this reality has yet to be achieved in most basic educational programs. The continuing education article on page 83 in this issue provides a review of baccalaureate nursing programs and their current pressure injury education.

 

For successful interprofessional education and teamwork, support must come from all constituencies, including the 5 P's: politicians, policy makers, payers/providers, professionals on the wound care teams, and patients. Although we continue to see remarkable advances in skin and wound care, barriers do exist, including adequate funding, turf wars between the professions (physicians, nurses, allied health specialists), and individual and organizational resistance to change. Our clinical editors operate with missionary zeal in providing interprofessional education to skin and wound care professionals throughout the world (see Special Report on page 78). These activities have resulted in demonstrable outcome-oriented education for 1500 graduates worldwide from the International Interprofessional Wound Care Course, who have become key opinion leaders and have changed practice in their countries.

 

Pearls are the traditional 30th-anniversary gift. Like the "practice pearls" in our contiuning education article, we offer pearls to mark this momentous occasion.

 

* Practice patient-centered care: acknowledge pain, the impor-tance of activities of daily living, and the need for the patient's social support system (patients)

 

* Nurture wound care teams and the need for interprofessional collaboration (professionals-interprofessionals, coordinated and integrated care = Porter model)

 

* Innovate to change healthcare systems for improved patient outcomes (politicians, policy makers, payers/providers)

 

 

We hope our readers will continue to submit manuscripts to our journal as we continue to embody what Drs Abruzzese, Maklebust, and Margolis called "the scholarly voice"4 and "resource for all healthcare professionals interested in the latest information"4 in our specialty field.

 

References

 

1. Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains. http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html. Last accessed January 10, 2017. [Context Link]

 

2. Porter ME, Lee TH. The Big Idea: The strategies that will fix healthcare. Harvard Business Review, October 2013. https://hbr.org/2013/10/the-strategy-that-will-fix-health-care. Last accessed December 21, 2016. [Context Link]

 

3. Abruzzese R. Editorial. Decubitus 1988;1(1):7. [Context Link]

 

4. Maklebust J, Margolis DJ. The scholarly voice of wound care. Adv Wound Care 1995;8(4):4. [Context Link]

 

5. Institute of Medicine. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality. Greiner AC, Knebel E, eds. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2003. [Context Link]