When Wounds Don't Heal
Every year, more than $15 billion are spent treating chronic wounds. Each year, the figure grows steadily, rising by 15 percent annually as an aging population develops more chronic diseases associated with non-healing wounds.
Non-healing wound cases can exact a toll on patients far beyond the pain and discomfort of the wound. They can cause patients to lose their mobility, which may lead to a decline in general health and emotional well being. Patients often become disabled, unable to work and dependant on care from their families.
Chronic wounds, sometimes caused by trauma in accidents and falls, are often associated with underlying conditions such as diabetes, clogging of the arteries and diseases of the veins. Eighty-six thousand amputations each year are the result of foot ulcers that plague one out of every seven people with diabetes.
Wounds that won’t heal are often signs of larger and more complicated problems. Physicians and nurses in our communities need to be able to call on expertise they can trust. That’s what the Johns Hopkins Wound Center is all about.
As a major component of one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, the Johns Hopkins Wound Center at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center participates in specialized wound-care studies and assures that its physicians and nurses have access to the latest in clinical research and practice.
Compassionate, Interdisciplinary and Expert Care
Compassionate, interdisciplinary and expert care come together at the Johns Hopkins Wound Center. The center is directed by Gerald Lazarus, M.D., with associate directors for dermatology, medicine, surgery and nursing. Four staff nurses are fully devoted to chronic wound care.
Compassionate, Interdisciplinary and
Expert Care
- Compassionate:
Because chronic wounds tend to be associated with complex medical histories, wound care is very exacting. Caregivers at the Wound Center look at more than a patient’s wound. They examine a patient’s whole life, including their medical history, home life, work environment and emotional well-being. This holistic approach is the hallmark of the Wound Center and a key to its success in helping patients.
- Interdisciplinary:
The Wound Center’s experienced caregivers are backed by the diagnostic and clinical capabilities of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, with its extensive depth and breadth of expertise in medicine, geriatrics, plastic surgery, vascular surgery, rheumatology, orthopaedics and diabetes. The Wound Center also coordinates care with home care providers and other essential support services.
- Expert:
Founded in 1996, the Wound Center offers a level of specialized expertise and knowledge, which is unmatched within the surrounding region. Hopkins Bayview is at the forefront of wound-healing research, translating discoveries in the laboratory to clinical care and assuring that our patients have access to the latest in clinical research and practice. The Wound Center faculty are international leaders in clinical medicine and research and have access to the most advanced, state-of-the-art technology for wound-healing.
