- (2013) Volume 7, Issue 1
Georgios Vasilopoulos
First Department of Nursing,Technological Educational Institute of Athens,Greece
During the past twenty years, systematic research on wound healing helped healthcare providers to understand the perspectives of this field. Advances in biotechnology and new scientific evidences resulted in the proliferation and differentiation of knowledge on wound treatment.
Key words
Wound technology,training programs, wound treatment,tissue repair
During the past twenty years, systematic research on wound healing helped healthcare providers to understand the perspectives of this field. Advances in biotechnology and new scientific evidences resulted in the proliferation and differentiation of knowledge on wound treatment.
As the knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms of wound healing process and the body’s reaction to injury is expanding on the molecular level, new prospects for therapy are emerging, subsequently producing new technologies. [1] According to the European Academy of Wound Technology, as new technologies and products enter the field, treatment of wounds becomes more efficient. [2]
In the last decade a significant number of complex technological advances led to a multidisciplinary approach to wound care. Meanwhile, the ongoing challenge for obtaining decisive professional role in the field, elevated the demand for training programs in wound technologies. Specialties, such as wound care specialist, tissue viability nurse etc, were introduced in many countries.
With the increase in the number of available products, the need for education became more apparent. [3] A small number of institutions organized workshops in wound technology.
Workshops in wound technologies are usually hands-on [4]. They classify technologies into two major categories (table 1).
Non invasive technologies
• Redistributing-pressure relieving devices
• Technologies in wound assessment
• Technologies in vascular assessment
• Compression therapy (multi-layer compressive bandages)
• Dressings
• Shockwave therapy
• MIST® therapy (ultrasound healing therapy)
• Ultrasonic Assisted Wound Treatment (low frequency ultrasound energy)
• Wireless Micro Current Stimulation
Operative technologies
• Negative pressure wound therapy
• Hydro-surgery
• Dermal Substitutes
• Skin Grafts
• Recell
• Flaps
In June of 2012, the First Department of Nursing of the Technological Educational Institute of Athens, in cooperation with the Hellenic Wound Healing Society and the Hellenic Society of Nursing Research and Education, organized its first Summer School under the title “New Technologies in prevention and treatment of chronic wounds and ulcers”.
This training program consisted of three main courses:1.Basic wound theory 2.Non-invasive technologies 3.Invasive technologies. During the program the level of knowledge of 34 nurses has been studied before and after each course. The results were announced in the 22nd Annual Meeting of the European Tissue Repair Society and showed that an educational workshop on wound technologies is effective in improving knowledge of registered nurses especially in the field of non invasive technologies and wound theory. [5]
In conclusion, new technologies in wound care are being presented in the last decades. There is a significant demand for training in this field. It is visible that workshops on wound care can improve the level of knowledge of health professionals .-
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