Nazareth Hospital
White Paper for Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
Steven C. Wilbraham MD, Medical Director, Nazareth Hospital Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine
Scrapes, cuts, and other injuries are just part of everyday life for most of us. That’s because — without consciously thinking about it — our bodies have the capacity to cease bleeding, create scabs, and those wounds heal. But what about wounds that don’t?
Chronic wounds don’t heal on their own (now best referred to as Problem Wounds). And the end points of these Problem Wounds can be quite serious — ranging from inconvenience and pain to sepsis (a life-threatening complication of infection) and death.
Why have problem wounds become a more prominent issue in the last 10 years? First, these wounds are more common in older adults – and human beings are living longer than they ever have before. What’s more, a larger percentage of the population than ever is living with obesity and related diseases such as diabetes, which increases the risk of poor circulation, nerve damage, ulcers and infection.
As a result, the field of Wound Care (now called “Wound Healing”) is growing rapidly. In fact, the federal government has set up specific regulations for dedicated Wound Healing Centers, which offer advanced treatments that can be both time-consuming and expensive.
At the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine at Nazareth Hospital, wound healing experts focus on two key priorities when treating chronic wounds. The first is to STOP whatever injuring may be ongoing. This is accomplished by:
- ensuring “arterial perfusion,” or the passage of blood through the circulatory system to the affected skin and underlying tissue,
- monitoring for and treating infection, especially cellulitis, a common bacterial soft tissue infection, and osteomyelitis, a bacterial infection of the bone
- ensuring “offloading,” or the prevention of injury by keeping pressure off the wound
- addressing edema, which is unusual swelling or accumulation of fluid in affected limbs
- evaluating for dermatologic (skin) disease causing delayed healing or wounds not healing following surgery.
The second priority is to ACCELERATE HEALING while preventing further injury. To do this, physicians and staff:
- optimize the microenvironment by removing microscopic debris, preventing bacterial growth, and stabilizing the temperature and moisture of the wound by covering with advanced dressings,
- address metabolic disease and other co-morbidities (or complicating factors) that may inhibit wound healing – such as diabetes, nutrient deficiencies, and side effects of other treatments like radiation or chemotherapy,
- optimize and accelerate tissue growth, using a wide variety of natural and man-made products in grafting skin and skin substitutes, as well as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (as 100% pure oxygen is highly effective in wound treatment)
- assess and address psychosocial obstacles, including smoking (a major barrier to wound healing) and emotional stress that accompanies health problems
- provide effective pain treatment, from everyday pain to pain that comes with treatment.
Advanced wound healing is important because, to use a metaphor, a wound is a ticking bomb. If not healing on its own, and left untreated, it will only progress and cause serious problems which may lead to hospitalization, amputation, or death. The ticking only stops when the wound is closed.
For this reason, the vision statement for the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine at Nazareth Hospital is this: Everything that SHOULD be done, and CAN be done, WILL be done for the most rapid healing of EVERY wound, for EVERY patient, at EVERY visit.
The bottom line is, healed wounds mean healthier people and a healthier community.
For more information about Nazareth Hospital Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine, call 215.335.7606.