Science And Practice Of Pressure Ulcer Management

Science and Practice of Pressure Ulcer Management Editor Marco Romanelli Coeditors Michael Clark, George Cherry, Denis Colin, and Tom Defloor Science and Practice of Pressure Ulcer Management With 52 Illustrations including 34 Color Plates Marco Romanelli, MD, PhD Department of Dermatology University of Pisa Pisa Italy Michael Clark, PhD Wound Healing Research Unit University of Wales College of Medicine Cardiff, UK George Cherry, D.Phil (Oxon) Clinical Faculty Oxford Medical School University of Oxford Oxford, UK Denis Colin, MD, PhD Centre de l’Arche Le Mans France Tom Defloor, RN, PhD Nursing Science Ghent University Ghent Belgium British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Control Number: 2005923439 ISBN 10: 1-85233-839-3 ISBN 13: 978-1-85233-839-8 Printed on acid-free paper © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2006 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Product liability: The publisher can give no guarantee for information about drug dosage and application thereof contained in this book. In every individual case the respective user must check its accuracy by consulting other pharmaceutical literature. Printed in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Springer Science+Business Media springeronline.com (BS/MVY) Foreword I I consider it a great privilege to have been asked to write the foreword for this book. The European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP) is less than 10 years old having been founded in 1997. I had the honour of being the first president of this group and have been amazed and delighted at the progress and achievements the panel have made since that time. The progress is remarkable, not only because it is a truly European group consisting of a wide range of clinical and academic interests but also because it has retained its focus on the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers. The officers and board should be congratulated in developing a range of educational and research opportunities in this important but often neglected aspect of clinical practice. Not only have they organised a series of successful annual conferences that have been held in a number of a European countries but they have developed a number of other exciting initiatives. These have included setting up working groups, developing guidelines, undertaking prevalence studies and research projects. The latest addition to these activities is the publication of this book which I am confident will rapidly become the standard textbook for all interested in this subject—not only in Europe but on a global scale. The editors of this book—who are all internationally known for their work in this area—are all key individuals in the success of the EPUAP. They have pulled together a comprehensive review of this