University Centre forNursing and Midwifery

project

Development, implementation and evaluation of a pressure ulcer treatment protocol for patients suffering from spinal cord injury in a specialised Danish Healthcare setting.

project duration: 01/01/2020 - 01/12/2022

The first part of the study is a systematic review: Epidemiological and etiological knowledge about pressure ulcers among the spinal cord injured population will form a very good fundament for development of a targeted treatment protocol for this specific population and a systematic review will be performed.

Secondly, a pressure ulcer treatment protocol (including local wound treatment and secondary prevention) will be developed in collaboration with clinical experts and patients in a Delphi Panel. The treatment protocol will be based on current knowledge / evidence and international guidelines.

The third part of the project will be implementation and evaluation of the treatment protocol based on developed indicators.

The aim of this study is to optimise pressure ulcer treatment to patients suffering from spinal cord injury.

promotor

Prof. dr. Dimitri Beeckman
Prof. dr. Dimitri Beeckman

Prof. dr. Dimitri Beeckman holds a BSc. in Nursing, an MSc. in Nursing and Midwifery, an MSc. in Education, and a PhD from Ghent University in Belgium. His doctoral thesis focused on pressure ulcer prevention and management of Incontinence- Associated Dermatitis (IAD). In 2010, he became a lecturer at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery at King’s College London in the UK. Currently, he works as a Professor of Skin Integrity and Clinical Nursing at the University Centre of Nursing and Midwifery at Ghent University in Belgium. He is a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey (Guilford, UK) and at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (Dublin, Ireland). Prof. Beeckman is Executive Board Member of the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP) and serves as Chair of the Scientific Committee since 2013. He also co- chairs the EPUAP Education Workstream. In 2016, he was a member of the International Scientific Committee of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies Conference. In March 2017, he chaired the 1st European Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Management Masterclass in Ghent. He is specialized in skin integrity research, clinical trials, healthcare education, implementation science and instrument development and validation. In 2013-2014, he authored the Belgian guidelines for pressure ulcer prevention and treatment (supported by the Belgian Healthcare Knowledge Centre, KCE). In 2015, he authored the International Best Practice Document about prevention and management of Incontinence- Associated Dermatitis, published by Wounds International. He acts as policy advisor of the Belgian Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety, and Environment. He authored and co- authored over 80 scientific publications in international peer- reviewed journals. He presented his research in > 50 countries all over the world. He is Consulting Editor of the Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing, the Journal of Tissue Viability, as well as Associate Editor of BMC Geriatrics. Prof. Beeckman holds different Fellowships such as Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and the European Academy of Nursing Science.

staff members

Knærke Søgaard
Knærke Søgaard

Knaerke Soegaard is doing a Joint PhD between Odense University in Denmark and the University Centre for Nursing and Midwifery at Ghent University in Belgium. Knaerke holds a BSc. in Nursing (1995), Intensive Care Nursing (2000), Diploma of Leadership (2006) and Master a of Public Quality Management, MPQM (2012) from University of Southern Denmark. Knaerke has primarily worked as an intensive care nurse (adults and children) and as a Quality and Patient Safety Consultant. She has done research with pressure ulcer prevention, and her actual PhD project focuses on pressure ulcer treatment in patients suffering from a spinal cord injury.