A tale of two alginates.

BACKGROUND: All fibrous wound dressings are considered to have the same action and value to the support of wound healing. Although clear distinction has been accepted between cotton gauze and calcium alginates, there is still no formally recognised distinction between calcium alginates and the more rapidly gelling fibre dressings. METHOD: Scientific and clinical evaluations were used to differentiate two different fibrous wound care products. One is derived from polymer extraction of algae (alginate dressings); the other has been manufactured from a uniquely patented carboxymethylation process that produces 100% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-based dressings. Structural differences between these dressings were evaluated with respect to three important areas of wound care management: optimal wound moisture control; the ability to reduce risk of complication by locking away harmful components (e.g. bacteria); and reducing the overall cost of wound care by promoting more efficient use of nursing time. RESULTS: Clear differentiation was illustrated through both scientific and clinical evaluations. CONCLUSION: This study supports the potential advantages of using a technically advanced fibrous wound dressing over the traditional fibrous alginate wound care product.

Defying hard-to-heal wounds with an early antibiofilm intervention strategy: 'wound hygiene'.

Biofilm has been implicated as a barrier to wound healing and it is widely accepted that the majority of wounds not following a normal healing trajectory contain biofilm. Therefore, strategies that inform and engage clinicians to reduce biofilm and optimise the wound tissue environment to enable wound progression are of interest to wound care providers. In March 2019, an advisory board was convened where experts considered the barriers and opportunities to drive a broader adoption of a biofilm-based approach to wound care. Poor clarity and articulation of wound terminology were identified as likely barriers to clinical adoption of rigorous and proactive microbial decontamination that is supportive of wound healing advancement. A transition to an intuitive term such as 'wound hygiene' was proposed to communicate a comprehensive wound decontamination plan with an associated message of expected habitual routine. 'Wound hygiene', is a relatable concept that supports meticulous wound practice that addresses barriers to wound healing, such as biofilm, while aligning with antimicrobial stewardship programmes.

Clinical and in vitro performance of an antibiofilm Hydrofiber wound dressing.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical and in vitro performance of a next-generation antibiofilm silver dressing (NGAD) with an established antimicrobial dressing technology that was developed before the recognition of wound biofilm as a clinical challenge. METHOD: Real-life evaluations of challenging wounds managed previously with cadexomer iodine (CI) dressings followed by switching to NGAD were evaluated alongside electron, confocal and light microscopy images from a challenging, in vitro, exuding chronic wound model. Clinical case studies on the use of CI and NGAD dressings are presented to further explore the real-life evidence and in vitro findings. RESULTS: We assessed 13 non-healing wounds that had been managed with protocols including CI dressings. After a median of four weeks, switching to the NGAD as primary dressing resulted in improvements in nine wounds and healing in two wounds, with associated improvements in wound bed appearance, while dressing usage was the same as or lower than before. The NGAD was observed to prevent the development of Staphylococcus aureus- Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm over three days, in contrast to the CI dressing, which appeared to support biofilm development once the active antimicrobial was exhausted from its carrier material. Clinical case studies exhibited this exhaustion as 'whiting out' of the dressing, with wound biofilm observed from samples taken following dressing use. Positive wound and patient outcomes were observed in two cases following the switch from a CI primary dressing to the NGAD, in highly exuding and infected wounds. CONCLUSION: Antimicrobial dressings may be effective against biofilm in some laboratory models, but their effectiveness as a wound dressings in protocols of care must be verified clinically.

Evaluation of Validity and Reliability of a Revised Incontinence-Associated Skin Damage Severity Instrument (IASD.D.2) by 3 Groups of Nursing Staff.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a revised version of the Incontinence-Associated Skin Damage Severity instrument (IASD.D.2) using 3 different groups of nursing staff. Revisions to the instrument included renumbering 1 body area where incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) occurs into 2 areas (right and left), which raised the total possible score from 52 to 56, and defining the borders of the body areas. DESIGN: Observational, evaluative design. SAMPLE AND SETTING: Five clinical experts certified in wound, ostomy, and/or continence (WOC) nursing evaluated content validity. Evaluators were attendees at the WOC Nurses (WOCN) Society 2014 conference, hospital nurses, and nursing staff at a nursing home. Evaluators were attendees at the WOCN Society's 2014 National Conference, hospital nurses at a community hospital with Magnet designation, and nursing staff at a skilled nursing home in the Midwestern United States. The evaluator group comprised 198 conference attendees (all nurses; age 53 ± 8.2 years, mean ± SD), 67 hospital nurses (age 37 ± 11 years), and 34 nursing home nursing staff (age 45 ±13.8 years). The majority of evaluators (>75%) in each of the groups were female. METHODS: Clinical experts evaluated the content validity of the revised instrument. Evaluators scored 5 to 9 photographic cases using the revised instrument. Four of the cases were scored by all evaluators. The agreement of case scores among all evaluators was analyzed to assess interrater reliability. The scores of evaluators grouped by evaluators' self-identified skin color or nursing experience (<10 years vs ≥10 years) were also tested for differences. To provide evidence for criterion validity, the agreement of evaluators' scores with experts' scores (considered a "gold standard" in this study) was analyzed. RESULTS: The agreement of the IASD.D.2 scores among all evaluators within each group ranged from 0.74 to 0.79, suggesting good interrater reliability. The agreement of each group of evaluators with the experts for all case scores ranged from 0.82 to 0.85, suggesting good criterion validity. There was no significant difference in scores by evaluators' skin color or nursing experience. CONCLUSION: The revised IASD.D.2 has good content and criterion validity and interrater reliability. The instrument has potential to standardize reporting of IAD severity in research and clinical practice and assist communication about IAD among nursing staff.

Diabetic foot infection: A critical complication.

The number of people in the world with diabetes has nearly quadrupled in the past 40 years. Current data show that 25% of these diabetics will develop a foot ulcer in their lifetime and that the cost of care for a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is over twice that of any other chronic ulcer aetiology. Microbial biofilm has been linked to both wound chronicity and infection. Close to 1 in 2 diabetics with a DFU are predicted to go on to develop a diabetic foot infection (DFI). The majority of these DFIs have been found to evolve even before the diabetic individual has received an initial referral for expert DFU management. Of these infected DFUs, less than half have been shown to heal over the next year; many of these individuals will require costly hospitalisation, and current data show that far too many DFIs will require extremity amputation to achieve infection resolution. The development of an infection in a DFU is critical at least in part because paradigms of infection prevention and management are evolving. The effectiveness of our current practice standards is being challenged by a growing body of research related to the prevalence and recalcitrance of the microbes in biofilm to topical and systemic antimicrobials. This article will review the magnitude of current challenges related to DFI prevention and management along with what is currently considered to be standard of care. These ideas will be compared and contrasted with what is known about the biofilm phenotype; then, considerations to support progress towards the development of more cost-effective protocols of care are highlighted.

The Development and Content Validation of a Multidisciplinary, Evidence-based Wound Infection Prevention and Treatment Guideline.

Acute and chronic wound infections create clinical, economic, and patient-centered challenges best met by multidisciplinary wound care teams providing consistent, valid, clinically relevant, safe, evidence-based management across settings. To develop an evidence-based wound infection guideline, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases were searched from inception through August 1, 2017 using the terms (or synonyms) wound infection and risk factor, significant, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, or surveillance. Studies on parasitic infections, in vitro studies, and non-English publications were excluded. The 19-member International Consolidated Wound Infection Guideline Task Force (ICWIG TF), hosted by the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC), reviewed publications/assessed levels of evidence, developed recommendations, and verified representation of all major recommendations from 27 multidisciplinary wound infection documents. Using a web-based survey, practitioners were invited to assess the clinical relevance and strength of each recommendation using standardized scores. Survey responses from 42 practitioners, including registered nurses (RNs), Wound Care Certified and advanced practice RNs, physical therapists, physicians, podiatrists, and scientists from 6 countries were returned to AAWC staff, tabulated in a spreadsheet, and analyzed for content validity. Respondents had a median of >15 years of military or civilian practice and managed an average of 15.9 ± 23 patients with infected wounds per week. Recommendations supported by strong evidence and/or content validated as relevant by at least 75% of respondents qualified for guideline inclusion. Most (159, 88.8%) of the 179 ICWIG recommendations met these criteria and were summarized as a checklist to harmonize team wound infection management across specialties and settings. Most of the 20 recommendations found not to be valid were related to the use of antibiotics and antiseptics. After final ICWIG TF review of best evidence supporting each recommendation, the guideline will be published on the AAWC website.

Understanding biofilm: what a community nurse should know.

The job of a community nurse involves effort to support wound healing. It is now well accepted in wound science that the presence of bacterial biofilm is an important risk factor for wound chronicity. Therefore, this problem is important for the community nurse to assess and address in order to avoid cost waste and to promote optimal patient quality of life. However, there exist many questions about exactly how biofilm impairs healing, how its presence can be clinically diagnosed in a wound, and how this barrier to healing can be most cost effectively treated. The goal of this article is to provide the front-line, community wound care nurse with the practical understanding needed to cost effectively address these challenges in the clinical setting.

Brexit: what does it mean for the future of UK nursing?

Following the result of the UK referendum on membership of the European Union, Jennifer Hurlow, a Nurse Practitioner from the USA, considers how this may shape nursing in the coming years.

Clinical Biofilms: A Challenging Frontier in Wound Care.

Significance: Biofilms have been implicated in a variety of wound complications. Recent Advances: Research has confirmed that biofilms form in wounds of patients experiencing delayed healing and may be a precursor to infection. Critical Issues: Research into the strength of this association is still in its infancy. Is biofilm formation a cause of these complications, a step toward them, or a signal that unresolved factors injuring tissue or delaying healing are setting the stage for biofilm formation, infection, and healing delay? To qualify biofilms for use in informing clinical practice decisions, biofilm characteristics supporting those decisions need standardized definitions and valid evidence that they predict or diagnose healing or infection outcomes. Literature searches of relevant terms reviewed biofilm definitions and validation of their role in predicting and diagnosing delayed wound healing or infection. Future Directions: Further research is needed to provide a rapid accurate technique to identify and characterize biofilms in ways that optimize their validity in diagnosing or screening patient risk of infection or delayed healing and to inform clinical decisions. This research will help validate biofilm's capacity to support wound care clinical practice decisions and establish their importance in guiding clinical practice.

Refinement of an instrument for assessing incontinent-associated dermatitis and its severity for use with darker-toned skin.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to refine an instrument for assessing incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) and its severity for use on lighter- and darker-toned skin, the Incontinence-Associated Dermatitis and its Severity Instrument-D (IADS-D), and to test its validity and reliability among WOC nurses. METHODS: Revisions to the existing instrument included examples of colors of normal and IAD-damaged skin that would be observed on light-, medium-, and dark-toned skin using pixels from patient photographs, additional photographs of IAD manifestations on different skin tones, and training materials. Four certified WOC nurse consultants and 2 WOC nurse clinical experts assessed the face and content validity of the IADS-D instrument. The IADS-D instrument was tested for criterion validity and interrater reliability using photo cases by attendees at the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society 2012 conference. RESULTS: The IADS-D instrument had good face and content validity. The overall average intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of IADS-D scores for all photo cases of testers (n = 266, 95% female, age 53.0 ± 7.9 years, mean ± SD) and those of investigators, experts, and consultants serving as the criterion was 0.90. The overall ICC for interrater reliability between all nurse testers was 0.99 and the ICC for tester skin tone was 0.99. CONCLUSION: The IADS-D instrument has excellent validity and interrater reliability among WOC nurses. Its refinement for use with lighter- and darker-toned skin addresses the lack of a much-needed instrument in nursing practice and research. Results support continued development and evaluation of the instrument's use in clinical and research settings.

Reepithelialization under pressure: a case study.

BACKGROUND: This case study describes the care of an obese male with a history of hypertension and venous insufficiency. CASE: The patient is a 55-year-old nonsmoker with clinical evidence of normal extremity arterial flow, who sustained a traumatic rupture of a venous varicosity on his left lateral calf while getting out of his car. Several months of wound care using standard compression strategies failed to result in wound closure. Drawing on a case study that described the management of a burn wound with silver hydrofiber, the patient was successfully managed with the same silver hydrofiber along with compression. This wound reepithelialized following application of a single dressing that remained in place under compression for a period of 2 weeks. After months of trial and failure, full healing was achieved within 4 weeks of initiating this treatment. CONCLUSION: Delivery of optimal care is based on the unique needs of the patient and available resources. This case illustrated how a published case study can be applied to the unique challenges of a second patient.

Dry skin in older adults.

Dry skin is a common problem in the older individual due to physiological changes of the aging process as well as chronic health conditions. Dry skin can worsen if management is inappropriate or lacking. Nursing management of dry skin in the elderly is comprehensive including applying topical products to replenish lipids and reduce water loss, maintaining or increasing fluid intake, limiting sun exposure, and reducing symptoms of chronic illnesses.

Clinical applications for the use of enzymatic debriding ointment and broad-spectrum bacteriostatic foam dressing.

The optimal management of a chronic, nonhealing wound is challenging to experienced and novice clinicians alike. Treatment must be individualized, but principles of wound bed preparation, including debridement of necrotic tissue, maintenance of moisture in the wound, and prevention of bacterial overgrowth, guide the management of nonhealing wounds caused by a variety of different etiologies. This article summarizes our experiences with 2 products, collagenase ointment and crystal violet/methylene blue-impregnated foam, in the treatment of 3 nonhealing wounds.

Clinical experience with wound biofilm and management: a case series.

Biofilm is a relatively new concept in the fields of infectious disease, wound infection, and healing. Although scientific research and "noise" regarding wound biofilm is increasing, little is known about the presentation, diagnosis, potential implications, and management strategies regarding wound biofilms. A series of four clinical cases is utilized to demonstrate the existence of wound biofilm. All patients presented with or developed a film on the wound bed that appeared to be distinct from slough; wounds also were failing to progress. Although the slough in some of the wounds was easily removed with traditional debridement methods, removal of the film required physical disruption with a curette or dry gauze. All wounds eventually progressed to healing. Considering the biofilm concept and available preclinical research, it is evident from this small case series that the appearance of biofilm in wounds is quite different from slough and requires different management strategies for its control. The evolving biofilm paradigm could profoundly change approaches to wound management. Additional research is needed in this evolving aspect of wound management.