Dear Readers,
       Spring is here for most of the country.The cold,bleak days of winter are changing to the bright days of spring with green trees, beautiful flowers, pollen, and wound care meetings.Yes, spring is when we turn our attention to getting our educational juices flowing.We are excited about learning the new information that will be presented at national and regional wound care meetings and seeing all of the new wound care products.What a glorious time, but will our vision be fulfilled? Will there really be new and exciting information presented or will the speakers just rehash the topics from last year? Will new, innovative wound care products be introduced that will make our patients heal faster and better, or will we just see another modification of an existing product?
       The upcoming Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society Meeting (SAWC/WHS) may indeed meet the vision of providing new and exciting wound care information.The 2008 program has new sessions that should be of great interest to both novice and experienced wound care providers. I encourage every wound care provider to attend.This should be an outstanding educational event for the wound care community.
       Will exciting new wound care products be introduced at the meeting?—that remains to be seen. I have heard that new products will be presented but may be “new and improved”models of products already in our armamentarium. A truly innovative product has not been developed for a number of years now. Has research and development stopped? Have the many clinical trials conducted on the treatment of various wound problems not resulted in any major “breakthroughs” in wound treatment?
       Many companies are proceeding with caution with the introduction of new products because of financial and liability issues, but our patients need help now.We have only 3 wound care products with proven efficacy, but not in all cases.¹ Why aren’t there more? Dr. Arthur Kornberg, Nobel laureate, said, “Fashions in science are as influential and nearly as mercurial as styles in dress. Driven by the funding tastes of government and major foundations, the stampede of scientists around the world for fashionable scientific activities leaves ghost towns in still fertile areas.”² I fear that as we scurry to popular endeavors such as gene therapy, stem cell therapies, and others, that we are overlooking very valuable treatments that could provide improved care at costs far less than these future technologies. Industry must take the lead in helping to develop these products, but as individuals we must also do our part. Dr. MA Myers has said,“…if history is any indication…[ new advances] will come not from a committee or a research team but rather from an individual… who views a problem with fresh eyes…and who dares to rely upon intuition, imagination, and creativity.”³ Don’t sell yourself short or count yourself out. Use your “fresh eyes, intuition, imagination, and creativity” and perhaps next year that new, innovative wound care product will be introduced at the SAWC/WHS or another meeting.