Letter From the Chair of the ACCWS

Abstract

Dear Colleagues, This is an exciting time for us at the American College of Certified Wound Specialists. As we continue to make our way toward increasing membership through our regional directors meetings, we are proud to announce the birth of our journal. As you enjoy reading our historic first issue of the Journal of the American College of Certified Wound Specialists in January 2009, I would like to acknowledge the efforts put in by our editor-in-chief, Dr. Steve Abraham, and our assistant editor-in-chief, Kari Madison Bechert, MPT. Without their dedication, this project wouldn't have been possible. Also, I would like to thank the review board members of the journal for their help in reviewing submitted manuscripts. Of course, many thanks go to the authors who contributed to this historic issue. I encourage you to send your interesting basic and clinical science papers related to wound care and wound healing in general to be reviewed for potential publication in our journal. We thank our publishing company, Elsevier, for their support throughout this long process. This journal will be considered for indexing at the end of the year 2009, and the papers previously published will be indexed in retrospect. We are determined to make this journal, your journal, the leading voice on wound care. Our goal is to present the latest advances in wound care to the providers, which will ultimately improve patient care and outcome. As previously mentioned, our regional directors continue to offer regional meetings to provide education to the wound care community and increase membership. Other educational courses on wound care are being offered nationwide. Continuing medical education credits and continuing education units are offered for these events. Please refer to the college Web site for more information on dates and locations of future events. Our third annual membership meeting, held in conjunction with the Clinical Symposium on Advances in Skin and Wound Care, in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a complete success. It is our goal that in the near future we will hold our annual membership meetings independently. The American Academy of Wound Management is developing a board certification examination on wound care for physicians. The examination will be offered at nationwide locations for the first time during the year 2009. Our goal is to make board certification in wound care a requirement, as it is in all other specialties, with the goal of improving patient care, outcome, and safety. We will keep you updated on the progress of this process. I would like to congratulate and welcome to our family the five new board of directors members. Finally, I would like to thank you for your support to the College. The American College of Certified Wound Specialists is the only membership organization that represents a multidisciplinary group of certified wound specialists. Sincerely,