Click here for the Wounds UK Home Page February 2006

Happy Birthday to the Tissue Viability Society Can you correctly classify pressure ulcers?	Happy New Year! Welcome to the first Wounds UK pressure ulcer e-newsletter in 2006. As we enter a new year what are going to be the pressure ulcer highlights? Hopefully these newsletters will continue to be well read and provide useful pointers to new activities and research. It would also be excellent if the pages of the wound community journals were filled with new data upon pressure ulcers their prevention and management. For this wish to come true then we need to be taking part in research, exploring new practice ideas and of course writing these for others to read and presenting our ideas at conferences. If we want new data on pressure ulcers then the responsibility rests with us - those who have a strong interest in the subject need to be the group who moves our evidence base forward. What of this year's conferences? The season starts in late April with the Tissue Viability Society's annual conference in Birmingham over the 26th and 27th of April. This event forms part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the TVS and in this special year the theme of the annual conference will be pressure ulcers. See the news pages for further details of this event. After April comes the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel's 9th Open Meeting to be held in Berlin at the end of August 2006 (31st August to the 2nd September). The theme of this event will be 'Pressure ulcers: Putting knowledge into practice' and future newsletters will report the full agenda of this event. The EPUAP organise a number of active working groups that meet over the year and report back at the annual conference - these groups cover topics ranging from pressure ulcer classification through epidemiology, the role and measurement of shear forces and the significance of nutritional status in pressure ulcer development and healing. All members of the EPUAP can join these working groups and contribute to the growth of knowledge - for further details of membership contact the EPUAP Business Office at www.epuap.org. The conference year draws top a close with the Wounds UK 2006 conference to be held in Harrogate in November. While not strictly a pressure ulcer focused conference the main Wounds UK conference will undoubtedly contain several presentations of direct relevance to pressure ulcers and remains a key event in the wound care calendar here in the UK. Let us hope that each of these conferences will provide a focus for new pressure ulcer activity and new research in 2006. It will be a good year if the sum knowledge we have about pressure ulcers expands over the next twelve months! Michael Clark Editor	Keeping up to date with pressure area care Recent publications

Happy Birthday to the Tissue Viability Society. The Tissue Viability Society has just entered its 25th year as a membership organization dedicated to all aspects of wound care and tissue viability. This makes the TVS the longest established wound focused group worldwide and this achievement is worthy of celebration. Over the next twelve months there will be a number of special events and publications. Starting with the pressure ulcer focused conference in late April (see www.tvs.org.uk for full details and booking forms) the Society will continue to celebrate over 2006. Over the next few months there will be news of further events including a very special evening later in the year! For the Journal of Tissue Viability there will be a series of special issues beginning with the conference issue in May that will bring readers unique access to key and very rare pressure ulcer publications. For details of membership and all of the year's events visit the TVS web-site at www.tvs.org.uk. Keep reading for: Can you correctly classify pressure ulcers? Keeping up to date with pressure area care Download this newsletter in PDF format Can you correctly classify pressure ulcers? If the answer to this question is no or event I'm not sure then a new CD and web-based publication from the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel may help! The EPUAP are shortly to release a new version of its much feted pressure ulcer classification toolkit. This series of slides and tests allows you to access the issues that arise when classifying pressure ulcers and to test your own abilities. The first edition of this software package has been one of the most successful actions of the EPUAP and the second edition with a markedly expanded set of pressure ulcer illustrations will undoubtedly be warmly received. Contact the EPUAP Business Office at www.epuap.org for details of when this new tool will be available along with details of how to obtain a copy - this will be available free of charge! 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 have been drawn from the AMED database (Allied and Complementary Medicine) using the search terms 'pressure ulcer' and 'decubitus ulcer' with the search limited to publications in 2005. Fourteen references were returned - some from well known sources, others from journals that perhaps many of us would not usually scan. Hampton S. The appropriate use of equipment for moving and handling patients. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation. 2005; 12(9): 416-20. Levine JM. Historical perspective on pressure ulcers: the decubitus ominosus of Jean-Martin Charcot. Journal - American Geriatrics Society. 2005; 53(7): 1248-51. Duimel-Peeters I. Preventing pressure ulcers with massage? American Journal of Nursing. 2005; 105(8): 31,33. 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; 86(6): 1208-13. Schultz A. Predicting and preventing pressure ulcers in surgical patients..AORN 2005; 81(5): 985-1006. Nazarko L. A holistic approach to treating pressure wounds. Nursing and Residential Care. 2005; 7(9): 397-9. Defloor T, Clark M, Witherow A, Colin D, Lindholm C, Schoonhoven L, Moore Z. EPUAP statement on prevalence and incidence monitoring of pressure ulcer occurrence. Journal of Tissue Viability. 2005; 15(3): 20-7. Cutajar R, Roberts A. The relationship between engagement in occupations and pressure sore development in Saudi men with paraplegia. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2005; 68(7): 307-14. Vanderwee K, Grypdonck MH, Defloor T. Effectiveness of an alternating pressure air mattress for the prevention of pressure ulcers. Age and Ageing. 2005; 34(3): 261-7. Rithalia S. A guide to evaluating different wheelchair seat cushions. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation. 2005; 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; 48(3): 139-45. Norton L, Rappl L, Sibbald G. Thinking outside the bed: Managing interface pressure. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation. 2005; 12(4): 165-70. 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; 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; 15(1): 9-18.   Download this newsletter in PDF format