From November 14 to 15, Texas Children’s Hospital will host the 7th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Pediatric Wound Care (ISPeW), one of the premier societies in the world devoted to education, collaboration and the state of the art in pediatric wound care.
The two-day conference will be held in the beautiful new auditorium at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, and will feature experts in basic science, surgery and nursing discussing the latest advancements in the care, prevention and research of pediatric wounds. These will include Texas Children’s own Shannon McCord, director of Advanced Practice Providers and Nursing Clinical Support Services, Community; MaryAnne Lewis, wound ostomy nurse; and Dr. Sundeep Keswani, pediatric surgeon, surgical director of basic science research, immediate past president of ISPeW, and the event’s local chair. Also from Texas Children’s are Chief of Plastic Surgery Dr. Edward Buchanan and Texas Children’s Director of Surgical Advanced Practice Providers Ryan Krasnosky, who are serving on the conference’s Program Committee.
ISPeW meetings receive abstracts from wound care providers all around the world, a testament to the advancement of the society and to the importance of the field in wound care. New to the conference this year will be three keynote sessions, led by:
- Dr. Steven Wolf, a leader in the field of pediatric burn care and a Professor of Surgery at Shriners Hospital in Galveston
- Dr. Paul Bollyky, an immunologist and infectious diseases expert from Stanford, who will talk about his innovative work in biofilms
- Sandy Quigley, Judi Stellar and Cathy Caillouette, three nurses who will be speaking about their work with the Braden QD pressure injury prevention scale and its implementation
Becoming the epicenter
The field of wound care in the United States, particularly for children, is not as mature as it is in Europe. Until the upcoming ISPeW meeting, there will not have been a meeting of this kind in the U.S. It has been a goal to form a coalition for pediatric wound care in the U.S. with Texas Children’s at the epicenter. A key step toward recognizing that vision was the launch of the Wound Care Clinic – one of only a few in the country, and the first and only one of its kind in Texas. Hosting one of the world’s premier pediatric wound care societies on our home turf is an important opportunity for Texas Children’s.
“Texas Children’s is proud to support the International Society of Pediatric Wound Care annual meeting,” said Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier, who will also deliver welcome remarks to open the conference. “We’ve spent a lot of time together building Texas Children’s into the magnificent place that it is today. We see the amazing things that are happening here every day because we live it. But others around the country don’t fully appreciate what is happening here. When we host conferences, not only is our expertise on display, but it becomes apparent to anyone who steps through our doors that this place is special. That helps spread the word, builds referrals and strengthens our reputation in our peers’ eyes.”
Surgical leadership and Nursing leadership are also strongly supporting the conference. Thirty complimentary surgical physician assistant (PA) registrations were generously provided and have already been filled.
Nursing leadership has arranged for any interested Texas Children’s nurses to attend the conference at no cost. In addition, continuing nursing education (CNE) units may be earned.
“PAs and nurses are leading the charge in wound care in the United States,” said Keswani. “We have free registrations available for our nursing and PA colleagues, and want to get the word out that this is an amazing opportunity for Texas Children’s nurses to learn about advancements in pediatric wound care, and to also earn CNEs in the process.
If you are a Texas Children’s Hospital employee and interested in attending the ISPeW meeting, please contact Linda Cao at llcao@texaschildrens.org.