Trends in wound care – the development of a specialty

The development of wound healing as a specialty has followed a tortuous path. While the past 30 years have seen many advances, we have a long way to go in the development of the ‘clinical woundologist’. In some countries, wound care is a nurse-led specialty, in others doctor led. This has occurred through the dedicated efforts of those clinicians with an interest in wound care. One cannot forget the role of the manufacturers. Their impact has been and remains significant. Much of the science, clinical research and education in wound healing has been a manufacturer-led specialty. The manufacturers of wound care products have increasingly contributed to the understanding of healing and education of clinicans involved in the treatment of wounds. We share a mutual goal that of improved care of patients with wound problems. Although the specialty is becoming less reliant on the support of manufacturers, innovative products and approaches can only come with their help. Nurses and podiatrists have done an excellent job in raising the profile of wound care, much work remains in the training of doctors, and other healthcare professionals. Educationally, wound care has evolved with many new developments – including this journal – which have a particular focus on multidisciplinary care of patients. A recent offering that was first published as a series of articles in the British Medical Journal was specifically written about and targeted at doctors. It was entitled the ‘ABC of wound healing’ and is now being provided as a single volume book through Blackwell Publishing (details in this edition of the journal). As wound healing emerges as a specialty, more and more physicians need to take an interest such that patients can be better treated and also health care costs can be optimised. For those of us who already practice the art of ‘woundology’, our role is to encourage interest and to educate others. There are many published articles, guidelines and tools available to fulfil this goal. Here is my challenge to all the wound healers across the world! : Choose a colleague, who is currently not a wound healer, but may have shown some interest and get them involved! Work with them on a few chosen patients of interest! Encourage them to write them up as a case study, for this journal, and send them to us for potential publication. If 1000 of our readers take up the challenge, we will have potentially created 1000 more ‘woundologists’ across the world – now wouldn’t that be a step forward? For more than 20 years, wound healing has been my life through my clinical practice, clinical research, educational activities and involvement with societies. It has been my personal mission to ensure that other doctors take an interest in the treatment of wounds. Wound care has been my passion, mission and vocation in life! It has been a pleasure, daunting, frustrating and stressful – sometimes all at once! My drive, however, is to ensure patients with wound care have ready access to a clinician who is both interested and trained in the subject and like palliative care, ‘Woundology’ will be recognised as an important and essential component of modern health care.