Top Wound Care Videos We’ve Been Watching

Whether you’ve got an extensive history in wound care management or you’re new to the field, there is always new information, treatments, methods, and discoveries being studied and developed. The beauty of the internet is that all that information is available in all kinds of formats, from studies to articles to blog posts to videos. And who doesn’t like a good, informative, engaging video? We sure appreciate them. Some of what we find is informative, some entertaining, but all of it has relevant information to share.

Here are some of the videos that have caught our eye. If you want to know about a certain topic, it’s out there. We’ve seen informative videos about preventing unnecessary diabetic-related amputations, health equity, AI in healthcare, preventing pressure injuries… topics that everyone in wound care could use a refresher on from time to time.

Can We Do More to Prevent Diabetic-Related Amputation?

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) says we most definitely can and should be doing more to prevent diabetic-related amputations. In Preventing Diabetes-Related Amputations: Missed Opportunities in the Patient Care Journey, a panel of noted industry experts and leaders in the ADA’s Amputation Prevention Alliance lead a panel discussion surrounding the missed opportunities in a patient’s care journey.

They raise awareness about the critical areas for improvement and proactive measures that can be taken for people at risk of diabetes-related amputation. Included is a compelling story from a diabetic patient who lost a limb and a helpful Missed Opportunities Map that identifies opportunities along the care continuum to prevent amputations. One physician panelist highlighted the importance of the ADA’s initiative: “Most amputations begin with some type of foot ulcer…they are slow-moving train wrecks.”

Mainstream Media Cover Disparities in Diabetes Diagnosis and Treatment

ABC News and medical experts sound the alarm on growing diabetic amputations among Black and Brown patients. The issue and need for better diagnosis and treatment were highlighted through a story we’ve heard far too often. A wound doesn’t heal; the patient doesn’t seek treatment; the result is an amputation.

The experts interviewed also shared sobering statistics. The number of diagnosed diabetics nationwide is up more than 7% since 2001, and over that same period, the number of those people needing to have a limb removed has grown by 18%. What does that mean in human terms? More than 154,000 toes, arms, legs, and feet are cut off every year, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The segment focuses on identification, education, and helping people obtain the right information about their diabetes early on.

Can We Stop Bleeding Instantly?

 

One of the biggest hurdles that wound care seeks to leap over is the slow speed at which treatment for wounds can be delivered. In his TED Talk, Joe Landolina looks at specifically the case of battlefield injuries (warning: there is a bit of blood in this video) and how swift care can make a massive difference in the outcome. If a laceration occurs in the field and blood is continuing to spill out of the wound, timely intervention is key.

Landolina’s landmark gel works with the body to address this problem specifically, quickly closing the wound and stopping the bleeding, providing more time for further treatment and care to be performed.

What Can We Do to Understand Health Equity and Better Promote It?

As noted in the ABC news story, one of the issues our industry must address is ensuring greater health equity so that underserved populations can access needed care, including wound care. This video gives an important perspective on critically and honestly addressing this often-misunderstood topic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) video, entitled simply Health Equity, looks beyond the academic definition to ask viewers how things like housing, education, income, and our sense of belonging in society are not the same in every community or for every person.  And yet, these very issues directly benefit or hurt our health.

How Is AI Transforming Healthcare?

Much is being said about AI in healthcare these days. So much so that it is often confounding and, well, at times, perceived as over-hyped. We liked this video at a recent TEDx at the University of Edinburgh, presented by Leonardo Castorina, PhD student in Biomedical AI, because it simply answered the question of what AI is and how it can be used in healthcare. In the talk, Castorina honed on the basics, current practices, and opportunities. He explained that at its essence, AI is data combined with pattern recognition tool to see what’s in a system, which then goes through a process called training, allowing that model to get better and better at identifying patterns.

This caught our eye as a mirror to Net Health’s approach to AI through our extensive wound care database. Castorina also keeps it real by talking about mistakes in AI, such as bias and transparency. Each of these can be addressed, but the first step is to recognize where errors can occur and then move on to solutions.

What’s the Current State of AI in Heathcare?

We’ve always liked the Stanford MedLIVE presentations. They are insightful and relevant, including some of the top minds in healthcare. (We also recommend checking out what Stanford says about utilizing tissue analytics for important wound care research programs.) In a panel discussion earlier this year, The State of AI in Healthcare and Medicine, experts discussed demystifying AI, its responsible use in healthcare, and what’s working. The presentation highlighted the issues our segment of the industry is working to address clearly and concisely. A lively Q&A allowed participants to ask more questions and helped to identify better what the marketplace is thinking and saying about AI, including an important discussion on privacy.

Most importantly, panelists shed light on new ways to use AI, such as measuring the effectiveness of new initiatives. Imagine using AI to measure the adoption and outcome of best practices for initiatives surrounding hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI) reduction or other critical new programs. Check out this presentation for new ideas and ways to get the most from AI in your wound care program.

How Do Wounds Heal Themselves?

 

For a basic recap of how wounds heal, check out Sarthak Sinha’s TED Talk breaking down the stages of wound healing. Whether you want a reminder of the base elements of wound care and healing, or you need a quick way to provide a patient with an easy-to-understand explanation of how wounds heal, this short video and its simple animation provide a helpful guide to the biological processes involved in wound healing.

Pressure Ulcer Prevention Basics

While checking out the latest about amputation prevention and AI is fascinating, we know it’s also helpful to have easy access to basic primers wound care providers face daily, like prevention and treating pressure ulcers. In this short video from Nursing Skills, providers of all levels can access a quick three-minute primer on what bed sores are, how to manage them, and some essential tips and best practices to prevent and treat pressure ulcers.

Videos are a great, easy-to-produce way to spread information on the basics of wound care and circulate new theories and techniques in a quick, entertaining way.