The treatment of pressure ulcers and other chronic wounds is about to be revolutionized with the founding of the Program for the Advancement of Chronic Wound Care at the Yale School of Nursing (YSN).
The YSN program, which will be developed over the next three years, represents a $1 million investment by Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation and ConvaTec, the company's ostomy and wound care products business.
The first academic program of its kind for wound care, the YSN program will address a major health concern in the rapidly growing older adult population -- the group most at risk for developing chronic wounds. It will provide statistical proof of the best ways of treating chronic wounds, from both a clinical and economic perspective.
"The potential impact of this project to change the world view on how chronic wounds are prevented and managed is significant," says Courtney Lyder, director of YSN's Adult, Family Gerontological and Women's Health Division, who will direct the new wound care program. "The most exciting aspect of this project is the potential to influence policies from a local to federal level based on scientific data. Clinicians have been looking for evidenced-based protocols from an objective source for many years; thus the ability to finally meet that clinical need is a dream come true." Lyder is widely known for his work as an educator, researcher and practitioner in wound care and minority aging.
David Johnson, senior vice president, ConvaTec, Americas, said, "The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation's financial commitment towards Yale, a leading academic institution, and Dr. Courtney Lyder, a respected lead investigator, will potentially benefit millions of Americans who suffer from chronic ulcers in the future."
One of the first initiatives of the program will be to invite three major academic centers in diverse geographic locations in the United States to participate in a one-year, 600-subject study of the best ways of caring for chronic wounds. Senior investigators from participating centers will gather major literature on best practices and design the study to compare these protocols to current practice.
"To my knowledge, this is the largest undertaking of its kind to better understand best practices in wound care," says Linda Pruitt, ConvaTec's director of Medical Education, Americas, who has worked as the initiative's facilitator on the ConvaTec side. "The initiative will be comparing best practices to real world practice. The study will include participants from hospitals, nursing homes, wound care clinics and home health care."
The study will also address the issue of cost. This "real world" approach will help practitioners and reimbursement sources adopt new best practices established by the study, said Joseph Rolley, ConvaTec's director of Outcomes Marketing, Americas, adding, "It will offer the policy makers something to hang their hats on."
Margaret Grey, associate dean for research affairs at YSN, says, "This project is part of YSN's ongoing effort to improve patient care practices. YSN's collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb and ConvaTec will improve the quality of life for millions of patients."
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