Provider puts its best foot forward in wound care

Wound care in aged care in an unfortunately common issue, but one that aged care provider Uniting is taking upon themselves to educate their staff through hosting a conference on the health concern.

Posted March 2nd 2018

by Margot White

<p>Aged care provider Uniting is educating staff through a conference on the health concern. (Source: Shutterstock)</p> — Aged care provider Uniting is educating staff through a conference on the health concern. (Source: Shutterstock)

Running in Sydney from 6-7 March, the event is the first of its kind to be held by Uniting, and to their knowledge by any aged care provider.

Uniting Director of Practice and Quality Linda Justin says the event is aimed at improving quality of life and find strategies to enhance the wellbeing of aged care residents.

“There are well documented statistics on the prevalence of chronic wounds and the associated healthcare costs of managing them,” she says.

“Given these challenges, we wanted to increase knowledge and understanding of this issue, not only for the benefit of the people we serve, but also to provide professional development for our staff so they can implement sustainable strategies to manage and treat wounds should and when they occur.

“We acknowledge that this is not a traditionally sought after topic, our purpose in having a two day focus on wound care is to ensure this issue is better understood.”

As part of the two-day conference, a range of “highly regarded experts” in wound care and management are planned to present on various issues including high risk foot problems, biofilms, nutrition, pain management, cost effective practices and legal aspects of wound care.

The final session will be delivered by Uniting Wound Clinical Consultant Hayley Puckeridge, whose session will focus on ‘Health Related Quality of Life’ and will illustrate how wound management approaches require a holistic approach.

“At Uniting, the people we care for are at the heart of what we do,” Ms Justin says.

“This includes finding strategies to enhance their wellbeing and quality of life.

“Addressing wound management is a part of this strategy in our care approach to ensure best practice for the people we serve.

“We’re really excited for our staff to learn from the speakers, who are widely recognised as Australia’s leading medical specialists of wound care management.”

Senior Podiatrist Liverpool Hospital High Risk Foot Service Annie Walsh is one of the speakers set to take to the stage during the event, discussing and sharing her experience around high risk foot and diabetic foot wounds.

She says the presentation will cover what a high risk foot is, types of wounds that are commonly found on the foot, and treatment and management strategies, and says she welcomes the conference on what is a very important topic in need of addressing.

“Education is so important and days like this are so vital to ensure that patients are getting evidence based wound care,” she says.

“The runsheet for this conference looks fantastic – I think delegates are going to walk away from the two days with a greater understanding about the many types of wounds that my present, and practical ways in which to manage them”.