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The 2006 conference season starts this month Where to find new pressure ulcer information? Pressure Ulcer Conference Calendar: Spring-Summer 2006	New steps to bring pressure ulcers forward to the attention of the general public. Over the past months this editorial has often considered how best we engage with the general public and our colleagues to make all constituencies aware of the importance of pressure ulcers. Previously we have been perhaps naïve at times with the belief that all it would take for pressure ulcer prevention to achieve a more prominent position was for policy makers (and the public) to accept that there were rather a lot of people with pressure ulcers and that these wounds wasted lots of money through the costs of treating avoidable wounds. Such a strategy can be considered naïve for no doubt all proponents of the importance of a wide range of diseases and conditions also press epidemiology and cost data to stress why their particular interest should receive greater attention! So if negative messages such as there are lots of pressure ulcers and they cost a great deal may have limited impact what about stressing the positives enshrined within the good practice and multiprofessional teamwork that so often are the hallmarks of how we prevent and treat pressure ulcers? Two forthcoming initiatives will tackle these positive messages and hopefully raise the public, professional and policy profile of pressure ulcers. National Wounds Day (June 22nd 2006) and associated events will help focus attention of the general issues faced in wound management. Further information upon this key day can be found within the Wounds UK web-site. In a complementary move the British Health Trades Association have provided financial support for the Tissue Viability Society, the Tissue Viability Nurses Association and the Wound Care Society to work together on a prolonged PR campaign targeted at pressure ulcer prevention and which will begin in May 2006. This campaign will focus upon raising the public's awareness of pressure ulcers and how to help themselves best avoid the development of such wounds. It is heartening to see new initiatives that focus upon wound management and pressure ulcers - of course after waiting for ages for something like this to occur (as with buses) two arrive at the same time! Hopefully the National Wounds Day initiatives and the joint organizations campaign will achieve greater success through the combined weight of their mutual efforts. Let us hope that late 2006 and beyond will witness greater attention outside the tissue viability community on the perennial problem posed by pressure ulcer prevention and management. Michael Clark Editor	Keeping up to date with pressure area care Recent publications

The 2006 conference season starts this month - where to find new pressure ulcer information? As we approach Easter the clock is ticking towards the beginning of the spring/summer conference season where new pressure ulcer information will be presented. Beginning with the Tissue Viability Society conference in Birmingham (26/27th April) and ending with the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel conference in late August (31st August to 2nd September) there will be at least six opportunities for new pressure ulcer presentations over the next few months and these are listed below. If you know of other local, national and international events where pressure ulcers will be discussed within dedicated sessions please let me know and we can add them to this list! Each month this column will highlight some of the key moments to come (and the major pressure ulcer highlights as each conference closes). For many the pressure ulcer highlight is the EPUAP Open Meeting to be held in Berlin this year with full details available on www.epuap.org. With over 100 scientific and clinical abstracts received Berlin is likely to continue the EPUAP tradition of hosting strong vibrant conferences dedicated to the single topic of pressure ulcers. The main sessions in Berlin in 2006 will discuss the translation of knowledge into practice. One highlight will be the presentation of the work to date of the Shear Force Initiative - bringing together clinicians and scientists from Europe, North America and Japan to discuss how we should measure and interpret shear forces as part of the complex aetiology of pressure ulcers. Keep reading for: Pressure Ulcer Conference Calendar Spring-Summer 2006. Keeping up to date with pressure area care Download this newsletter in PDF format Pressure Ulcer Conference Calendar: Spring-Summer 2006. April 26/27th Tissue Viability Society 'Applying the Pressure' Birmingham UK, details from www.tvs.org.uk April . Symposium on Advanced Wound Care, San Antonio, USA. April 30th - May 3rd; details from http://sawc.net/. May. European Wound Management Association, Prague, Czech Republic. May 18-20th; details from http://www.ewma.org/english/english.htm June. 11th Annual Oxford - European Wound Healing Summer School, Oxford UK, 21st-24th June; details from http://www.oxfordinternationalwoundfoundation.org/sumsch11/index.html June. Wounds UK Summer Conference, Stoneleigh Park, UK; 22nd June; details from http://www.woundsuk.com/summer.shtml August 31st- September 2nd. 9th EPUAP Open Meeting, 'Pressure ulcer - putting knowledge into practice' Berlin, Germany details from www.epuap.org. Keep reading for: Keeping up to date with pressure area care Download this newsletter in PDF format Pressure Ulcer References This month's pressure ulcer references are drawn from the last few years of the AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine) database having been identified using the keyword 'Pressure Ulcer'. Rush A. Purchasing electric profiling beds: Benefits and challenges. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation 2005 Dec;12(12):559-62. Mullins M, Thomason SS, Legro M. Monitoring pressure ulcer healing in persons with disabilities. Rehabilitation Nursing 2005 May-Jun;30(3):92-9. Hampton S. The appropriate use of equipment for moving and handling patients. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation 2005 Sep;12(9):416-20. Levine JM. Historical perspective on pressure ulcers: the decubitus ominosus of Jean-Martin Charcot. Journal - American Geriatrics Society 2005 Jul;53(7):1248-51. Chen Y, Devivo MJ, Jackson AB. Pressure ulcer prevalence in people with spinal cord injury: age-period-duration effects. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2005 Jun;86(6):1208-13. Schultz A. Predicting and preventing pressure ulcers in surgical patients. AORN J 2005 May;81(5):985-1006. Defloor T, Clark M, Witherow A, Colin D, Lindholm C, Schoonhoven L, et al. EDUAP statement on prevalence and incidence monitoring of pressure ulcer occurrence. Journal of Tissue Viability 2005 Aug;15(3):20-7. Rithalia S. A guide to evaluating different wheelchair seat cushions. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation 2005 May;12(5):226-9. Jones ML, Marini I, Slate JR. Prevention Practice Differences Among Persons With Spinal Cord Injuries Who Rarely Versus Frequently Sustain Pressure Ulcers. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin 2005 Spring;48(3):139-45. Frost F, Roach MJ, Kushner I, Schreiber P. Inflammatory C-reactive protein and cytokine levels in asymptomatic people with chronic spinal cord injury. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2005 Feb;86(2):312-7. Wall J, Colley T. A study to evaluate factors for inclusion in a new self-assessed risk indicator for persons who use a wheelchair for mobility. Journal of Tissue Viability 2005 Jan;15(1):9-18. Collins F. Development and design of equipment over the last 15 years. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation 2004 Sep;11(9):411-6. Krause JS, Broderick L. Patterns of recurrent pressure ulcers after spinal cord injury: identification of risk and protective factors 5 or more years after onset. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2004 Aug;85(8):1257-64. Lindgren M, Unosson M, Fredrikson M, Ek AC. Immobility - a major risk factor for development of pressure ulcers among adult hospitalized patients: a prospective study. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 2004 Mar;18(1):57-64. Langemo DK, Anderson J, Volden C. Uncovering pressure ulcer incidence. Holist Nurs Pract 2004 Jan-Feb;18(1):42-4. New PW, Rawicki HB, Bailey MJ. Nontraumatic spinal cord injury rehabilitation: pressure ulcer patterns, prediction, and impact. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2004 Jan;85(1):87-93. Shega JW, Hougham GW, Stocking CB, Cox-Hayley D, Sachs GA. Barriers to limiting the practice of feeding tube placement in advanced dementia. J Palliat Med 2003 Dec;6(6):885-93. McInnes E. The use of pressure-relieving devices (beds, mattresses and overlays) for the prevention of pressure ulcers in primary and secondary care. Journal of Tissue Viability 2004 Jan;14(1):4-18. Rosenthal MJ, Felton RM, Nastasi AE, Naliboff BD, Harker J, Navach JH. Healing of advanced pressure ulcers by a generic total contact seat: 2 randomized comparisons with low air loss bed treatments. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2003 Dec; 84(12):1733-42. Henoch I, Gustafsson M. Pressure ulcers in palliative care: development of a hospice pressure ulcer risk assessment scale. International Journal of Palliative Nursing 2003 Nov;9(11):474-84. Garber SL, Rintala DH. Pressure ulcers in veterans with spinal cord injury: A retrospective study. Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development 2003 Sep-Oct;40(5):433-42. Phillips EM, Fine CK. Case study in acute spinal cord injury complicated by obesity and a pressure ulcer. Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation 2003 Fall;9(2):45-9. Mastrogiovanni D, Phillips EM, Fine CK. The Bariatric spinal cord--injured person: challenges in preventing and healing skin problems. Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation 2003 Fall;9(2):38-44. Rubayi S. Reconstructive surgery of pressure ulcers around the pelvic region. Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation 2003 Fall;9(2):20-3.   Download this newsletter in PDF format