One Problem! One Voice! – World Union 2008

Abstract

We are now well into 2007. Many of us our attending the annual cycle of clinical and academic meetings on wound healing and tissue repair. The challenge of balancing clinical, teaching, research and other work commitments with travel, hotel and conference registration organisation increases in complexity or maybe I have just become less enthusiastic over another flight, another hotel and another few days away from home! The methods by which we can improve our knowledge and increase our awareness of new developments and research data are many and various. The use of electronic use of communication have unquestionably revolutionised ways of working. The increasing awareness of importance of theories, data and expert opinion as part of evidence-based practice cannot have escaped anyone – unless they have been in hibernation for the past 10 years! The emergence of many new interest groups, societies and associations that are either wound-type focused, speciality dominated or country/region specific provides all of us with an increasing and often bewildering array of sources of information. While this could lead us to being spoilt for choice, it can also potentially lead to many people and groups reinventing the wheel. All these observations lead me to believe that there is a unique opportunity for us to maximise our time and energies in taking forward this important, complex and diverse problem of wound healing. An exciting opportunity will be provided by the World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) meeting to be held in Toronto in June 2008. During this meeting, Dr Gary Sibbald and his colleagues will be undertaking reviews of evidence that exist in a number of areas of clinical practice and the WUWHS will be launching a number of consensus statements on important aspects of practice that will provide comment on a range of subjects where evidence is lacking and identify important gaps in the knowledge base that currently exist. These initiatives are not meant to undermine or replace local initiatives, but in a rapidly changing world, there is an obvious need to address aspects of wound healing that have a global impact at an international level. Dr Luc Teot, the current president of the WUWHS, has been driving an initiative around reimbursement of wound-healing products, and in the last edition of this journal, a statement was published on reimbursement with input from clinical, academic and commercial colleagues that it is hoped will stimulate, debate and discussion and lead to improved access for patients to appropriate products and thereby increase the standards of care they receive. WUWHS has also been in discussion with a number of professional and government groups in several countries to develop and deliver a core education and training package if societies, associations and individuals who can offer this expertise are not present. This is another initiative that is likely to lead to improved standards of care for patients with wounds. These three examples of initiatives undertaken by the WUWHS do not address all the challenge that exist in this subject but do provide evidence that the world of wound healing is changing, and in addition to the wide range of high quality of initiatives undertaken at a local, regional or continent level, there is a value in addressing the global problem of wounds at a similar level. The International Wound Journal is proud to be associated with the WUWHS and its activities and we hope further outputs from this group will appear in this journal in view of our international readership, remit and responsibility. I would hope that many of you will now start to plan your trip to Toronto in June 2008 to attend what will be a very large and very different meeting. I am confident the effort will be worthwhile.