Kelly McFee, DNP, FNP-C, CWS, CWCN-AP, NE-BC, FACCWS, DAPWCA

Despite the number of wound care dressings and technologies available today, the burden of caring for chronic wounds continues to affect health care expenditures profoundly. In the United States alone, Medicare spending for all wound types is between $28.1 billion and $98.6 billion. 

The term “chronic” implies that these wounds cannot be healed and may indicate a long-term, unresolvable condition. An international expert advisory panel determined that a transition to the term “hard-to-heal” wounds would positively influence clinicians’ perspectives on the potential for successful healing outcomes with appropriate treatment regimens. 

The concept of wound hygiene was devised by this international panel, and it is based on the premise that just as basic hygiene is followed in our activities of daily living to manage the biofilms we encounter in our daily lives, so too should basic hygiene for biofilm management be applied to wounds. Incorporating a wound hygiene strategy across the continuum of care may result in improved healing in these complex, hard-to-heal wounds.

REGISTRANTS ATTENDING THIS SESSION WILL BE ABLE TO:

• Explain the rationale for transitioning the terminology from “chronic” wounds to “hard-to-heal” wounds.
• Identify the four steps of the wound hygiene protocol. 
• Describe the appropriate treatment for hard-to-heal wounds, including dressings designed to manage biofilm within the dressing.

Located in the ConvaTec booth.

This activity is non-accredited.