The first webinar of the Iranian wound care market was held by Meezgerd

The first webinar on wound care market and the position of wound therapists in Iran, with the cooperation of wound therapists and wound care companies was held on July 19 and 20. The event was organized in three separate sections; main speeches, live speakers' responses to the audience and live side exhibition to introduce the companies' products.

The following is a summary of the lectures.

A five-level model for wound analysis and treatment

Dr Harm Jaap Smit Wound Biologist / President of the European Countries Biologists Association (ECBA)

To begin analyzing the general problems of wound healing, Dr Smit has developed a five-level model that includes wound classification. According to him, by dividing all the wounds into smaller units, different visions and more intervention options can be achieved. In the first stage, wounds are divided into two types, "normal" and "problematic". At the next level, problematic wounds fall into two categories, A and B. The redistribution of A and B creates levels 1,2,3 and 4 for wounds. At a glance, it can be said:

He added that the current perspective of wound healing is often focused on choosing the right dressing. As shown in this model, the dressing is only used for level 2, which require local intervention. "Wound healing goes beyond choosing a dressing," He said.

He added that what can be learned from this five-level model is that we need a team to treat complex wounds, rather than a specialist because the required information and knowledge is beyond one-person capacity.

The Challenges of Wound Healing, from industry to clinic

Dr Mahshid Saraidary Wound Care Specialist / AWN Group Manager at Arkan Darman (Smith+Nephew)

Dr Saraidary began her talk with the history of wounds and wound dressings and the advances made in wound healing methods

Following his talk, the results of a market survey conducted in the field of the share of wound healing products in the Iranian market; It was found that about 50% of the Iranian wound market is made up of traditional products such as gauze and cotton and advanced wound dressings have less than 20% market share.

She also mentioned two main factors in the challenges of the wound healing industry in the country. First, lack of easy access to advanced wound dressings and second, lack of insurance coverage for wound dressings and wound healing products. She considered the problems and complicated process of importing products due to exchange rate inflation as the main reason for the shortage of modern products. Of course, she pointed out that this issue has provided a good opportunity to develop domestic wound healing products.

In the field of clinical challenges, she acknowledged that the wound care specialist is known among the staff, and the wound expert has a specific role. In this regard, the role of importing companies that held workshops, events and specialized courses in creating this recognition should not be overlooked. Introducing Wound Week in 2019 to inform the public about wounds and holding various congresses in Iran by Arkan Darman Company were among the measures that have been taken in this regard.

She mentioned the lack of proper training, insufficient knowledge of the products and the lack of a legal authority to approve the certificates of wound therapists as among the clinical challenges in the field of wound treatment in the country.

Right. From the Start. Only a Clean Wound Can Heal

Masoumeh Khodapasand Wound Care Specialist / Product Manager at Etod (B. Braun)

Khodapasand began her speech with the slogan of B.Braun: "Right. From the Start. Only a Clean Wound Can Heal ". In other words, for effective and rapid wound healing, the wound must be free of any dead tissue and bacteria. She went on to discuss the wound biofilm, which, according to research, contain 90% of chronic wounds; As a global problem and challenge in wound management and healing.

Also, concerning the formation of biofilms, it was pointed out that the bacteria in the wound over time form a colony and expand and cause the wound to enter the infectious and acute stage. The time for bacteria to attach to the wound is 2-4 hours. For this reason, the fight against biofilms is considered a global challenge in wound healing.

She mentioned preventing the bacteria from attaching to the wound as a solution to prevent the biofilm spreading. Finally, she added that antiseptics and wound cleansing products should be used in the wound cleansing stage.

The importance of self-care in diabetes

Panthea Sokhanvar Wound Care Consultant / Scientific Supervisor at Iran Pharmis (Hartmann, Medihoney)

To define the wound therapists and their duties, she first reviewed her recent interview with Meezgerd about the characteristics of the wound therapists.

Sokhanvar then presented various parts of the research plan, which included the study of diabetic patients as random case studies in medical centres, filling out self-care checklists by them and analyzing the data. She listed the research findings as follows: Most age groups with diabetes are 50-60 years old. Men make up a higher percentage of sufferers. People with high academic knowledge do not necessarily have self-care knowledge of diabetes.

She added that a review of case studies shows that if diabetes lasts for more than ten years, the risk of complications from diabetes such as ulcers increases. Also, another result of this research that is related to underlying diseases of people with diabetes such heart and kidney diseases indicates that the wound therapist should consider the medications the patient is taking that are effective in the wound healing process.

As a general result of the research, she added that the diabetic person is the centre of treatment and the doctor and nurse are the treatment partner. With the right education, they should encourage patients to be responsible and involved in treatment.