Pharmacy Daily | Weekly Comment
03 Sep 18

THIS week's contributor is Margo Asimus, Director, Skin & Wound Care Consultancy - Evidence-based wound care - from pharmacy: Wounds cost our health system about $3 billion every year. Given the high foot traffic for prescriptions and the first stop for first aid, pharmacy is ideally placed to help address this growing problem.

Two important groups at the centre of complex wounds are people with delayed wound healing and those at higher risk of infection. People suffering from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes, respiratory disease, immobility and increasing age are more likely to have complications in wound closure. Importantly these groups require contemporary, evidence-based wound care that has proven to be essential in facilitating wound healing in high-risk people.

These modern products can aid healing by reducing the microbial load in the wound with none of the traditional cytotoxicity which can cause pain and respond poorly. Many of the innovative wound products have been restricted to the hospital setting until recently. Microdacyn Wound Care is an effective product that is now available nationwide. Whereas traditional products such as those containing hydrogen peroxide are no longer recommended for wound care due to their known cytotoxic action with a risk of tissue damage, pain and subsequently delayed healing. To help address the growing burden of wound management nationally, pharmacy needs to recommend best practice by offering modern, evidence-based wound products.