The Women's College Hospital Wound Care Centre is recognized nationally and internationally for its expertise in wound care. Under the direction of Gary Sibbald, it has developed treatment models and the standards of care for wound healing, wound-related education, and innovative patient care. The clinic takes an interdisciplinary approach, involving health professionals from a variety of fields in its research and clinical practice including nurse practitioner Kevin Woo. The Wound Care Centre also works collaboratively with community-based care providers on research projects aimed at improving the broad spectrum of ambulatory care.

For example, the Wound Care Centre recently partnered with Community Care Access Centres in Toronto and Peel, to test the idea of having wound care experts from the clinic available to assess patients when leg ulcers are first observed. Leg ulcers are unfortunately common in women and men living with diabetes and other disabilities that reduce blood flow to the legs. This process made a dramatic different for the patients involved. For people cared for during the study, approximately 50 per cent of diabetic foot ulcers healed within a 4-week period compared to 12 per cent in the regular system. It also saved the system money, by reducing hospitalization costs and even the number of amputations.

Learn more about the study in this interview with the researchers.