Overview of Wound Care
Baylor Scott & White Health Comprehensive Wound Centers and Vascular and Diabetic Foot Center provide a variety of outpatient services and select centers also provide inpatient care. Research has shown that in addition to promoting wound healing, comprehensive wound care programs can reduce the risk of infection or other complications.
Key components of the Comprehensive Wound Centers and Vascular and Diabetic Foot Center are:
- Up-to-date and proven clinical practices
- A multidisciplinary team trained in wound care
- Continued care after the initial visit, including a post-visit referral process
- Patient education
- Care combined with referring providers and specialists, home health, rehabilitation, long-term acute care and nursing homes
The multidisciplinary teams at the Baylor Scott & White are made up of physicians on the medical staff, nurses and hyperbaric technologists who specialize in wound care, hyperbarics and/or enterostomal therapy. These teams work closely with you to develop a custom treatment plan.
Conditions Treated
- Arterial wounds – caused by narrowed arteries that decrease blood flow to the wound
- Venous wounds – caused by abnormal veins leading to inflammation and swelling
- Diabetic lower extremity wounds – caused by decreased sensation leading to repeated injury
- Diabetic ulcers
- New or non-healing surgical wounds
- Traumatic wounds – related to injuries
-
Pressure ulcers (also known as "bed sores") – caused by unrelieved pressure over bony prominences
- Minor burns
- Atypical wounds – due to various medical conditions, such as: vasculitis, pyoderma gangrenosum and Warfarin necrosis
- Radiation wounds
- Abdominal stomas
- Non-healing wounds of any kind
Treatments for Wound Care
- Advanced/antimicrobial wound dressings
- Diabetes counseling
- Transcutaneous oxygen monitoring
- Total contact casting for some diabetic foot ulcers
- Compression therapy
- Doppler evaluation
- Negative pressure wound therapy (Wound VAC)
- Nutritional counseling
- Wound care and debridement
- Application of skin substitutes
- Enterostomal therapy
-
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
When to Seek Wound Care
Many underlying conditions can prevent proper healing of a wound, and may actually contribute to aggressive, painful wounds and sores on the body. Here are five questions you should ask yourself if you think you may need help from a Wound Care Center.
- Do you currently have an open wound or sore on any part of the body?
- Have you had an open wound or sore for more than four weeks?
- Is the wound, or area around the wound discolored, producing odor, or excessive drainage?
- Have you been diagnosed with diabetes or peripheral vascular disease?
- Have you ever considered yourself “slow to heal”?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, contact us at 1.844.279.3627 for a referral to a wound care specialist.