Editor Selma Maloumi selma.maloumi@markallengroup.com Chief Sub Editors Brian Cooper Lindsey Stewar t Consultant Editor Tracy Cowan Sales Director Emma Blick emma.blick@markallengroup.com Circulation Director Sally Boettcher sally.boettcher@markallengroup.com Production Manager Kyri Apostolou Production Assistant Charlotte Rutland Editorial Director Sophie Gardner Publishing Director Andrew Iafrati Managing Director Anthony Kerr anthony.kerr@markallengroup.com Chief Executive Officer Ben Allen JWC is available in many libraries and is indexed on several databases, including: • Science Citation Index Expanded and

Current Contents/Clinical Medicine from Thomson Reuters • MEDLINE National Librar y of Medicine • CINAHL The Cumulative Index to

Nursing and Allied Health Literature • RCN The Royal College of Nursing

Librar y Nursing Bibliography • HINARI Access to Research in

Health Programme, par t of the Research4Life initiative the monthly international wound-care journal

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289 Editorial: Welcome to EWMA 2024! Kirsi Isoherranen 290 Improving wound infection management: education and evaluation of an infection management pathway A four-week evaluation of 259 patients to assess the clinical impact and acceptance of an infection management pathway, designed to improve the consistency of care of wound infection when introduced, and supported by an educational programme. Kevin Woo, Pere Coca, Anabela Moura, Emma Woodmansey, Tim Styche, Roberto Polignano 298 Activated carbon cloth versus silver-based dressings in a population with diabetic foot ulcer: a randomised controlled trial An open label, comparative, randomised controlled trial of 40 patients. Difference of 20% in wound area reduction within eight weeks, proportion of complete healing, time to healing and adverse events were compared for the two dressings. Mohd Yazid Bajuri, Abid Nordin 304 Improving outcomes for patients with hard-to-heal wounds following adoption of the Wound Hygiene Protocol: real-world evidence An evaluation of the impact of a four-step biofilm-based wound care strategy, Wound Hygiene Protocol (cleanse, debride, refashion and dress), on 693 hard-to-heal wounds in 669 patients. Rachel Torkington-Stokes, Kate Moran, Diego Sevilla Martinez, Deborah Cesura Granara, Daniel Gary Metcalf 312 Defining wound bed conformability: a new testing methodology to assess the relative swelling rise of foam dressings The Relative Swelling Rise test methodology was developed to measure the relative swelling rise of foam dressings upon fluid absorption, and offers a quantifiable and easily replicated method to measure wound bed conformability. Mary R Brennan, David H Keast, Kimberly Bain, Mark Bain, Bo Lorentsen, Nayla Ayoub 324 Safety and effectiveness of an antiseptic wound cleansing and irrigation solution containing polyhexamethylene biguanide A study to assess the safety of a polyhexamethylene biguanide-containing irrigation solution in a standard cytotoxicity assay, and to assess its effect in a three-dimensional full-thickness model of human skin using a lactate dehydrogenase assay and measuring proinflammatory effects using an interleukin-6 production assay. Mark G Rippon, Kristian Daly, Alan A Rogers, Samantha Westgate 335 Assessing antibacterial efficacy of a polyhexanide hydrogel versus alginate-

based wound dressing in burns In this retrospective cohort study, patients were assigned to receive either standard of care with the alginate-based wound dressing or the polyhexanide hydrogel wound dressing. Laser Doppler imaging (LDI) scans were conducted. Regions of interest were selected based on LDI scans and divided into healing potential categories. Wound swabs were collected and the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus was documented. Wound healing was recorded. Ignace De Decker, Dries Janssens, Kimberly De Mey, Henk Hoeksema, Marie Simaey, Petra De Coninck, Jozef Verbelen, Alina De Pessemier, Phillip Blondeel, Stan Monstrey, Karel EY Claes 348 Treatment of hard-to-heal wounds in ischaemic lower extremities with a novel fish skin-derived matrix An evaluation of the efficacy of treatment of hardto-heal wounds of 50 patients with ischaemia of the lower extremities, and comparison of an omega-3 wound matrix product with a standard dressing. Yeon Ji Lee, Hye Ju Han, Hyung Sup Shim 357 Microjet wound therapy versus sharp debridement on wound size reduction:

a pilot randomised controlled trial A randomised, controlled, open-label pilot study of 13 consecutive patients randomly assigned to receive either microjet wound therapy or sharp debridement and wound outcomes compared. Sebastian Probst, Camille Saini 366 Commentary: The pivotal role of debridement in wound healing

Dieter O Mayer 368 Application of deep learning to pressure injury staging Junior and non-specialist nurses have less experience with PIs and lack clinical practice, and so have difficulty staging them accurately. In this work, a deep learning-based system for PI staging and tissue classification is proposed to help improve its accuracy and efficiency in clinical practice, and save healthcare costs. Han Liu, Juan Hu, Jieying Zhou, Rong Yu S1– S28 North American Supplement This edition features a systematic review of the use of key performance indicators to inform evaluation of wound care programmes for people with complex wounds; a case report of Rosai– Dorfman–Destombes disease with central nervous system involvement and cutaneous wounds; an online survey of family physicians in Canada to determine post-surgical wound care practices; and a case series documenting an alternative approach to the management of post-Mohs surgical wounds with a hypothermically stored amniotic membrane.

Cover picture: Royal Exchange London Copyright holder: Adobe Stock/Wallace

This year’s cover theme is ‘Cities’.

P ractice E ducation R esearch M anagement C omment

JOURNAL OF WOUND CARE VOL 33, NO 5, MAY 2024

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