Wound-care clinics
more than a bandage
for primary health care
Australia’s ageing population and
the growing burden of diabetes have
created new challenges for primary health
care in the area of wound management.
Melbourne’s Quality Pharmacy Group
is working to address the challenge by
establishing dedicated wound care
clinics in six of its pharmacies.
Monash’s Associate Professor Geoff Sussman
OAM has been central to the development of the
clinics and training of the pharmacists involved.
With more than 100 publications and 30 years
of clinical research, practice and teaching to his
name, he is an internationally renowned expert
in wound management. This interest, he says,
evolved from his background as a pharmacist.
And he sees wound care as central to the
pharmacist’s role.
“I originally trained as a pharmacist,” Associate
Professor Sussman says. “Working in hospitals
gave me the opportunity to do clinical research,
and the area I was most interested in was wound
management. The number of chronic wounds we
see today is skyrocketing. Someone in Australia
loses a limb to diabetes every three hours. It’s very
alarming and it’s only going to get worse.”
While Associate Professor Sussman has taught
wound management at Monash for many years, he
says the challenge of wound care is compounded
by a general lack of appropriate health care training
in the area.
“Monash approached me 20 years ago to join the
staff and start a wound centre. Today it remains
the only university in the southern hemisphere
providing a substantial level of woundcare teaching
to pharmacy and medical students, and the only
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