Advanced Wound Care Treatments for the Lower Extremity – M. Dolores Farrer
- Are new tissue products and grafts worth the extra cost?
- Push your competency to the next level with gained confidence and new techniques
- Take home “pearls of wisdom” to tackle chronic wounds
- “Show and Share” the latest advancements in dressings
- Secrets revealed to get your patients to become more compliant
Whether you are new or experienced to the wound care arena, you know the complexity of wound care challenges. The knowledge of the clinician requires access to resources, creativity and the development of a well communicated holistic plan of care.
Dr. Dolores Farrer has been involved in wound care for over 23 years. Her style of presentation is fun and energetic; full of real-world tips and tricks-of-the-trade. Topics include management of the most common lower extremity wounds, advanced dressings and graft applications, debridement techniques and reducing biofilm. Experience “Hands-On” sessions to enhance learning from a podiatrist’s unique point of view.
At the end of the day, you will leave not just understanding the science behind success in this difficult field, but also the human side to healing. Addressing the challenges of “non-compliant” patients, and having them adhere to the treatment regimen with simple behavioral techniques, will certainly benefit anyone involved in health care. Understanding the world from your patient’s point of view will be an eye-opener for all health care providers and give you better healing outcomes.
OUTLINE
So Many Dressings, So Little Time
Dressing Fundamentals for Advanced Practice
- Choosing the appropriate dressing based on the wounds needs
- New versions of older products
- Does higher cost mean better results?
- Is silver becoming resist?
Cut It Out? – Proper Debridement and Reduction of Bioburden
- Eschar, gangrene, fibrin, and slough – best way to treat: remove or leave alone
- Biofilm: identify, reduce and remove
- Surgical vs. Non-surgical ways to debride a wound
- Infection: can we treat without antibiotics?
Common Chronic Wounds and Advanced Treatments
- Normal wound healing pathway
- In-depth review of the pathophysiology, appearance, location and treatments for:
- Diabetic / Neuropathic Foot Ulcers
- Venous Insufficiency
- Arterial Ulcers
- Pressure Injuries
- Vascular Testing: Ankle-Brachial Index, Doppler – understanding the results
- Step-by-step foot exams: Identify the high risk patient
- Diabetic foot deformities: how to treat and protect from recurrence
Hands-On Lab
- Review of off-loading devices:
- Total Contact Cast
- CamWalker vs. CroWalker
- Diabetic shoes
- Custom inserts
Hands-On Off-loading Workshop (secrets from Dr. Farrer’s lab)
Advanced Dressings – What Works, What Doesn’t
- Biological and tissue grafts
- Prepping the wound for graft placement
- Mechanical Negative Pressure
- Topical Oxygen
Lower Leg Edema and Compression Treatments: It’s More Than Just Compression
- Compression pumps: what are the differences?
- Elastic vs. inelastic dressings
- Multi- layered compression wraps
- Protecting the periwound and drainage control
Hands-On Lab
- Compression workshop to practice your skills
“I’m stressing over my wound” – Understanding the Role of Stress in Delayed Wound Healing
- Identify stress-induced factors in the wound patient
- Clinical strategies to overcome delayed healing
The Psychology of Wound Healing
- Making your patient part of the Wound Care Team
- Communication techniques to encourage compliance
- Easy strategies to promote positive change in patient behavior
Hands-On Labs
- Application of compression dressings
- Off-loading Techniques
- Show and Share some of the newest dressings
OBJECTIVES
- Develop the proper treatment protocol for the most common lower extremity wounds.
- Justify the importance of off-loading and demonstrate techniques to protect the wound from pressure.
- Explain the latest methods to reduce biofilm levels in chronic wounds.
- Compare and contrast the benefits of advanced tissue products and discuss how to prepare the wound for application.
- Describe the major groups of dressings by structural characteristics and utility.
- Differentiate the variety of compression devices, dressings and stockings.
- Identify the underlying physical and biological mechanisms for stress-induced delayed wound healing.
- Display effective communication techniques that encourage positive change in patient behavior.
