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ConvaTec Wound Therapeutics –
Medical Education
Jo Billingham
Medical Marketing Manager, ConvaTec, UK and Ireland
education: n. to improve or
develop (a person, judgement, skills)
and to train for some particular purpose or occupation.
Within the current climate of the National Health Service
(NHS), the drive to deliver high quality care for all patients is paramount.
In order to satisfy this agenda, health care professionals need to have
appropriate resources available to them. A key resource is medical education.
Education is seen as a key to best practice at all levels of clinical
practice both locally and nationally. A well thought out, evidence-based
medical education programme may be able to influence clinical practice
and, in essence, change behaviour, which will have a direct impact on
improving patient care and supporting clinical governance.
It is well recognised that the resources available within the NHS to deliver
education are limited and stretched. It is now becoming more widely accepted
that working in conjunction with the healthcare industry can potentially
afford the NHS the support and additional resources they require to develop
and deliver educational sessions that are applicable to multidisciplinary
health care professionals and timely.
It is important that medical education operates on many levels; it needs
to be relevant, accessible, and compliant with clinical governance standards
and most importantly adopt a practical problem solving approach to wound
management. Such an approach bridges the theory practice gap and encourages
clinicians to implement their learning’s into their everyday practice.
Medical device companies such as ConvaTec are being seen as an ideal partner
to deliver education that is highly relevant, personalised to individuals
needs and balanced. ConvaTec enjoys a wealth of employees with different
areas of expertise and experience and an international network of key
clinical and industry contacts within the fields of tissue viability,
business and health care guidance, e.g., National Institute for Clinical
Excellence (NICE)
The ConvaTec medical education team has been carefully appointed to support
health care professionals and patients across the spectrum of wound management.
Education is either delivered face to face by qualified tissue viability
nurses or as telephone advice through the ConvaTec wound care helpline
which is operated by trained general nurses. The team is supported by
our Medical Director – a qualified physician.
The wound care helpline is available from Monday to Friday, 9–5p.m.
on 0800 289738 (1800 946 938 if in the Republic of Ireland).
The different types of medical education available include; study events,
workshops, distance learning through the multi-media CD-ROM, literature
and case study articles. A key annual event in the calendar for ConvaTec
is the Oxford European Summer School which is a four-day event held every
June. This event is run in collaboration with Dr George Cherry and provides
an excellent environment in which clinicians can learn about the fundamentals
of wound healing.
We look forward to working with you all in the future.
Jo Billingham
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