Advocacy Webinar Recording
Healing Wounds for Diabetic Care
For people with diabetes, getting the proper treatment for foot wounds can prevent lingering problems and even amputation. The patient community in the rural area served by Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, Ogdensburg, N.Y., has a high incidence of diabetes and obesity, which can cause a high rate of nonhealing wounds. Identifying a need and opportunity, CHMC, a 130-bed community hospital and regional referral center, worked with National Healing Corporation to develop a wound healing program. Affiliated with Ohio State University and the National Institutes of Health, NHC provided comprehensive training to CHMC physicians and nurses. The Rev. Thomas T. Patterson Wound Healing Center now uses evidence-based clinical pathways and treatment protocols, including traditional wound treatments, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, negative pressure wound therapy, growth factor therapy and use of bioengineered tissues. Patients receive individualized treatment as well as help managing their condition from a certified diabetes educator and nutritionists. Multidisciplinary teams led by the trained physicians continuously review best practices. From 2007 through 2010, the center's overall heal rate averaged 85 percent to 87 percent, with an amputation rate of less than 1 percent. About 94 percent of patients who heal do so in less than 16 weeks, and patient satisfaction averages 4.9 on a 5.0 scale. For more information, contact Judy Tubolino, M.S.H.C.A., program director, Wound Healing Center, at jtubolino@chmed.org, or Laura Shea, M.H.A., director of community relations and planning, CHMC, at lshea@chmed.org.
For people with diabetes, getting the proper treatment for foot wounds can prevent lingering problems and even amputation. The patient community in the rural area served by Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, Ogdensburg, N.Y., has a high incidence of diabetes and obesity, which can cause a high rate of nonhealing wounds. Identifying a need and opportunity, CHMC, a 130-bed community hospital and regional referral center, worked with National Healing Corporation to develop a wound healing program. Affiliated with Ohio State University and the National Institutes of Health, NHC provided comprehensive training to CHMC physicians and nurses. The Rev. Thomas T. Patterson Wound Healing Center now uses evidence-based clinical pathways and treatment protocols, including traditional wound treatments, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, negative pressure wound therapy, growth factor therapy and use of bioengineered tissues. Patients receive individualized treatment as well as help managing their condition from a certified diabetes educator and nutritionists. Multidisciplinary teams led by the trained physicians continuously review best practices. From 2007 through 2010, the center's overall heal rate averaged 85 percent to 87 percent, with an amputation rate of less than 1 percent. About 94 percent of patients who heal do so in less than 16 weeks, and patient satisfaction averages 4.9 on a 5.0 scale. For more information, contact Judy Tubolino, M.S.H.C.A., program director, Wound Healing Center, at jtubolino@chmed.org, or Laura Shea, M.H.A., director of community relations and planning, CHMC, at lshea@chmed.org.
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