Care of Chronic Wounds in an Austere Environment

Wound care in an austere environment requires understanding of acute and chronic wound pathophysiology, an ability to improvise/adapt standard wound care to difficult environments, and a knowledge of medical problems intrinsic to a native population.

This presentation will discuss use of Wound Bed Preparation principles in Iraq and Afghanistan, where there are multiple confounding medical problem problems among civilian patients.  Because of prolonged conflicts in both areas, patients often have both acute and chronic wounds requiring initial and follow-up care.   Where follow-up is limited, applcations of advanced wound care techniques such as negative pressure therapy have proven beneficial. The challenge of providing wound care in austere hostile areas where ethnic conflicts may impact medical care will also be discussed.