EUROPEAN PRESSURE ULCER ADVISORY PANEL

It is now mid-summer and this edition of the EPUAP Review is being completed to allow for its publication to coincide with the forthcoming 4th Open Meeting of the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, to be held in Pisa, Italy. This meeting promises to live up to the excellent reputation of the previous annual meetings – with a lively mixture of scientific and clinical presentations and, of course, a series of enjoyable social events! I look forward to meeting you in Pisa.

One of the key activities of the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel this year has been the initiation of a project designed to measure the prevalence of pressure ulcers across European hospitals in a consistent manner. Such an initiative has been required for some time – many events and conferences enter relatively meaningless debates regarding whether pressure ulcers are a bigger problem in one country, or in one region of a country than in surrounding areas. These discussions have always been flawed by the lack of consistency in data collection and reporting methods between studies. By tackling the development of a common data set the EPUAP hopes to provide the first comparison of a common risk-adjusted data set that highlights the prevalence of pressure ulcers across Europe. The first stages of this ambitious programme are discussed within this issue of the EPUAP Review.

Included in the last issue of the EPUAP Review was a list of references related to the laboratory evaluation of support surfaces. The compilation and publication of such reference lists appears to find favour with readers and, as such, a further list of references is offered in this issue. This covers issues related to local treatment of pressure ulcers, particularly the role of ulcer debridement and the use of wound dressings. If there are topics you would like to see covered in such reference lists please do not hesitate to contact the EPUAP Business Office and we will try and cover these areas in future issues of the Review.

Our President, Jeen Haalboom, and I have recently returned from a meeting held in the United States devoted to those common issues related to pressure ulcers that affect all developed countries – for example epidemiology, risk assessment, the use of support surfaces and local treatments. The major topics of the meeting are discussed in this issue of the EPUAP Review.

Once again I would encourage all EPUAP members to consider contributing to the Review – be it a short report of a recent meeting, an outline of on-going or recent research, or developments in clinical practice. The more we exchange information the better our understanding of the issues related to pressure ulcer prevention and treatment will become. This is such an obvious statement, but it does depend upon members sharing their news! 

Michael Clark
Editor