CLINICAL MANUSCRIPT AWARD
Get the LEAD Out: Noninvasive Assessment for Lower Extremity Arterial Disease Using Ankle Brachial Index and Toe Brachial Index Measurements
Journal of Wound, Ostomy & Continence Nursing. 33(1):30-41, January/February 2006. Phyllis A. Bonham
RESEARCH MANUSCRIPT AWARD
Pressure Ulcer Pain
Journal of Wound, Ostomy & Continence Nursing. 33(3):252-257, May/June 2006. Deborah Rastinehad
Each year, 2 articles published in JWOCN are selected by the Editorial Board for recognition as the most outstanding clinical and research paper of the year. This task is one of the most pleasurable tasks that the Editorial Board performs, because it recognizes the hard work of our most valuable asset, our authors. These awards were created to encourage WOC nurses to write for the Journal, and to reward the hard work and excellence required for publication in the premiere journal for WOC nursing in the world. Award winners are recognized at the Opening Ceremony of the National Conference, where they receive a plaque and an award.
2006 Award Winners
This year, 2 stellar clinicians and scholars, Phyllis Bonham and Deborah Rastinehad, received the Clinical and Research Manuscript Awards respectively. Dr Bonham's manuscript, entitled Get the LEAD Out: Noninvasive Assessment for Lower Extremity Arterial Disease Using Ankle Brachial Index and Toe Brachial Index Measurements is a comprehensive and lucid review of lower extremity arterial disease (LEAD), and the role of WOC and wound care nurses in its noninvasive assessment. Perhaps more than any other single WOC nurse, Phyllis Bonham has pioneered efforts to expand WOC and wound care nurses' role in moving beyond traditional but unreliable assessment methods for assessing arterial insufficiency in the legs via palpation of peripheral pulses, to the routine use of ankle brachial index (ABI) and toe brachial index (TBI) measurements as simple, inexpensive, and portable methods for accurately and noninvasively evaluating arterial function in the lower extremities.
Deborah Rastinehad's article, entitled Pressure Ulcer Pain, is a qualitative research study that employs hermeneutic phenomenology to describe and interpret the lived experiences of persons living with pressure ulcer pain. Her research eloquently illustrates the unique abilities of qualitative research methods to enrich our understanding of, and empathy with, the difficult and incredibly complex challenges our patients with chronic wounds, ostomies, or incontinence face on a daily basis. Her findings not only described the magnitude and chronicity of the pain associated with pressure ulcers. She also reveals failures of the technologically oriented modern health care system to provide the comfort and care these persons so desperately seek as they attempt to live with their pain.
Selection Process
The process for selecting manuscript award winners is rigorous, but the outcome is worth the effort. Our Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Section Editors nominate 1 manuscript for the Research and Clinical Manuscript Awards from among the articles published during the previous year. The list of nominees is submitted to an editorial board who has no involvement with the original manuscript review for final selection. The selections are approved by the editor-in-chief. Criteria for selection include originality, clinical relevance, study design, and writing quality, as well as the panel's subjective assessment of the paper's impact on WOC knowledge and practice.
Picture Yourself Here
We personally encourage you to picture yourself in these photographs. The first step is to recognize your own clinical expertise. Think about the type of patient that you manage "all the time" or that unusual wound, ostomy problem, or continence challenge that seems routine to your practice but seems to challenge colleagues because they see the problem less frequently than you. After you have identified the problem, we want you to imagine how you are going to help your colleagues to accurately recognize the problem, engage in the kind of critical thinking that you commonly use when evaluating this challenge, and what treatment options you find effective for alleviating or resolving the underlying disorder or symptom. Finally, you should imagine the best means to share this knowledge with your colleagues. It may be through completing a single case study, multiple cases studies, or even a formal study that supports what your intuition and clinical expertise tells you must be true. The result will be a published manuscript in the Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing, which affects the care of patients with WOC conditions all over the world, and a well deserved bit of recognition by your colleagues and your Editorial Board. We look forward to reviewing your manuscript soon!!