Update on Wound Care in the LTACH
Wound debridement is considered by most wound experts to be an important aspect of wound management. Debridement facilitates several processes that are essential for wound healing, including the removal of dead and necrotic tissue. This “biological burden” is removed to control bacterial colonization, prevent wound infection and to allow the practitioner to properly visualize and assess the full extent of the wound and involved structures. This guides further treatment, optimizes wound dressings and sets the stage for more advanced treatments, such as engineered skin substitutes.
Sharp debridement promotes wound healing by removing impeding dead tissue and bacterial biofilm; and it is also clear that debridement “resets” cellular signaling proteins to the acute phase of wound healing, allowing wound healing to proceed in a more optimal fashion.
When debridement is performed on appropriate patients in a timely fashion, wound healing can proceed much more rapidly, leading to better outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, and lower overall wound care supply costs. When performed by appropriately trained providers, debridement can be effective and efficient, while imposing little overhead on facility operations, or additional burdens to caregivers.
The value of sharp debridement is well documented as a critical approach to managing problem wounds and wound healing. A retrospective analysis assessed wound outcomes in relation to frequency of wound debridement. This study, by Wilcox, Carter and Covington, looked at 154,644 patients with 312,744 wounds of all types over a 4 year period in 525 clinics. The study demonstrated clear evidence of improvement in wound outcomes with increasing frequency of debridement (P > 0.001), and concluded “The more frequent the debridement, the better the healing outcome.”
At WoundCentrics, we believe in evidenced based care and appropriate debridement is a key component of a comprehensive wound care program. Effective, timely debridement can mean the difference between excellent outcomes and high patient satisfaction, and merely average or even sub-optimal outcomes. That is why we train and certify our providers in sharp debridement as an important clinical skill of wound care.
WoundCentrics offers an Inpatient Wound Care Program with trained specialist(s) on-site daily seeing wound patients with the goal to optimize wound progression in the LTACH.
WoundCentrics offers a Complimentary Virtual LTACH Wound Care Analysis