Why Wound Care™?: NOW for Practicing Clinicians

Introduction: In the United States, the prevalence of chronic wounds is estimated to be around 6.5 million. Research suggests that at least 50% of these patients do not receive evidence-based wound care, affecting patients’ lives and costs of care. Barriers to implementing evidence-based wound care include insufficient wound care education in nursing and medical school curricula. The number of practicing nurses and physicians receiving adequate wound care education and certification comprises approximately 0.5% of the workforce. Launched in 2015, Why Wound Care™ was originally intended to educate nursing and medical students about evidence-based wound care and rewarding careers in this field. Limiting Why Wound Care™ to this population is insufficient to meet the needs of the growing population of wound patients. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the integration of multiple practicing clinician roles into the Why Wound Care™ career model.

Method: Why Wound Care™ Advisory Board members acknowledged the need to expand the Why Wound Care™ campaign to include multiple disciplines (PT, RN, APRN, PA, DPM, and MD/DO). They engaged experts in these fields to contribute lectures and other materials suited for novice as well as experienced practitioners. The focus by clinical discipline was deleted and a practitioner inclusive model used.

Implementation: Content from the nursing and medical student sites was updated and repurposed for the Practicing Clinician portal in March 2019. Practicing physical therapists and podiatrists developed videos with a live date of August 2019.  Why Wound Care™ resources include: basic and video learning modules, wound assessment/documentation videos, journal, events/conference lists, wound care career information, organizations, education and certification, and Chronic Wound Care: The Essentials E-Book (2018).

Outcomes: While difficult to ascertain the long-term outcome of Why Wound Care™ on patient care, Google analytics data indicates interest by practicing clinicians. Further initiatives are planned.