The Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) venous and pressure ulcer guidelines.
Guidelines based on best available evidence to support pressure ulcer (PU) or venous ulcer (VU) management decisions can improve outcomes. Historically, such guidelines were consensus-based and differed in content and development methods used. Since 2002, the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) Guideline Task Force has used a systematic approach for developing "guidelines of guidelines" that unify and blend recommendations from relevant published guidelines while meeting Institute of Medicine and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality standards. In addition to establishing the literature-based strength of each recommendation, guideline clinical relevance is examined using standard content validation procedures. All final recommendations included are clinically relevant and/or supported by the highest level of available evidence, cited with every recommendation. In addition, guideline implementation resources are provided. The most recent AAWC VU and PU guidelines and ongoing efforts for improving their clinical relevance are presented. The guideline development process must be transparent and guidelines must be updated regularly to maintain their relevance. In addition, end-user results and research studies to examine their construct and predictive validity are needed.
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Surgery Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson University Medical School, Rutgers, NJ; and President, Bolton SCI, LLC, Metuchen, NJ; email:llbolton@gmail.com.
Laura L
LL
Bolton
Therapy Support, Inc, Cincinnati, OH.
Sue
S
Girolami
Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT; and doctoral student, Yale University, School of Nursing, New Haven, CT.
Lisa
L
Corbett
W. Cary Edwards School of Nursing, Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, NJ; and doctoral student, West Chester University, Department of Nursing, West Chester, PA.
Lia
L
van Rijswijk
D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy*; D012952:Societies; D014481:United States; D014647:Varicose Ulcer / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy*