Journal of Tissue Viability (2009) 18, 97
www.elsevier.com/locate/jtv
Editorial
This issue of the Journal of Tissue Viability
includes the text from this year’s Tissue Viability
Society (TVS) clinical practice guideline on seating
and pressure ulcers. The development of this
guideline was a new step for the TVS and the
success of this document has prompted the TVS to
prepare a consensus statement on the evaluation
of active pressure redistribution support surfaces
(alternating pressure air mattresses) which will be
published in the next issue of this journal. Small
charities such as the TVS can, and do play an
important role in sharing knowledge and expertise
across the tissue viability and wound healing
communities. How much greater would that role
be if it was supported by regional and national
government?
The Wound Management Association of Ireland
(WMAOI) has worked with the TVS for several years
with this Journal at one stage supplied to WMAOI
members. At their bi-annual conference (October
7e8, 2009) the WMAOI launched new wound
management guidelines produced in association
with the WMAOI but issued by the Irish Health
Service Executive. These new national guidelines
summarise best practice and evidence based
recommendations and cover general principles of
wound management, the management of active
leg ulceration, prevention and treatment of dia-
betic foot ulcers and the prevention of pressure
ulcers with the key recommendations summarised
in a 4 page quick reference guide. The guideline
does not re-invent the wheel in that parts of the
0965-206X/$36 ª 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Tissue Viability Society.
doi:10.1016/j.jtv.2009.10.002
new document are drawn from other guidelines,
for example the pressure ulcer prevention section
summarises the new pressure ulcer prevention
guidelines developed by the European and Amer-
ican Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panels (EPUAP and
NPUAP).
It is too early to judge the likely uptake and
implementation of the new Irish guidelines
however the simple fact that they have been
issued by the Health Service Executive may help
overcome some of the barriers that impede
guideline implementation. It is hoped that a copy
of the new Irish guidelines would be available on
the TVS website (www.tvs.org.uk) to share this
new national initiative. The challenge implicit in
the Irish guidelines is that national organisations
should work harder to translate available guide-
lines into appropriate formats for use within their
health care system. It is to be hoped that the TVS
will accept this challenge and work to produce
a ‘local’ version of the new international pressure
ulcer guidelines along with implementation guides
and a version of the guideline suitable for patients
and carers.
Michael Clark
Department of Wound Healing,
School of Medicine, Cardiff University,
Cardiff, UK
E-mail address:
michael.clark21@btopenworld.com