AAPM&R - Spinal Cord Injury Guideline

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Prevention and Treatment of Pressure Ulcers Following Spinal Cord Injury Guideline Endorsed by AAPM&R

In Brief: The Academy recently endorsed a new spinal cord injury publication.

The Academy's Board of Governors endorsed Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Treatment Following Spinal Cord Injury: A Clinical Practice Guideline for Health-Care Professionals. The guideline is the sixth in a series of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines produced by the Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine (Consortium), of which the Academy is one of 19 member organizations.

Since 1997, the Academy has endorsed and distributed five other Consortium-produced clinical practice guidelines: Prevention of Thromboembolism in Spinal Cord Injury; Acute Management of Autonomic Dysreflexia: Adults with Spinal Cord Injury Presenting to Health Care Facilities; Neurogenic Bowel Management in Adults with Spinal Cord Injury; Depression Following Spinal Cord Injury: A Clinical Practice Guideline for Primary Care Physicians; and, most recently, Outcomes Following Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: Clinical Practice Guidelines for Health-Care Professionals. The guidelines have proven very popular with Academy members, with more than 5,000 copies distributed to date.

This latest guideline on pressure ulcers seeks to describe effective strategies for identifying risk and reducing the incidence, prevalence, and recurrence of this lifelong complication of spinal cord injury. Recommendations are based on evidence in the literature, which represent the most current interventions applied in clinical practice, and the consensus opinions of experts. The multidisciplinary guideline development panel designed Pressure Ulcer to cover a broad spectrum of issues, such as: risk factors; ulcer assessment; nutrition; and nonsurgical/surgical treatments and complications.

Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) spearheads the guidelines effort, providing both administrative and financial support for their development, publication, and distribution. PVA aims to improve the quality of care for both veteran and non-veteran spinal cord injury populations. Clinical practice guidelines developed by the Consortium are based on extensive reviews of the scientific literature, as well as on the consensus of physicians, academic experts, and researchers. All guidelines undergo legal review.

Margaret A. Turk, MD, was the Academy's representative to the Consortium Steering Committee, responsible for coordinating guideline development and dissemination of guideline information. Kenneth C. Parsons, MD, chairs the Steering Committee. Academy members Daniel P. Lammertse, MD, and Gary Yarkony, MD, served on the development panel for the Pressure Ulcer guideline. Expert reviewers of this latest guideline included Academy members David Chen, MD, and Michael M. Priebe, MD.

Members of the Academy's Practice Guidelines Committee and other AAPM&R members reviewed Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Treatment Following Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury and recommended Academy endorsement.

AAPM&R unfortunately is out of copies of this guideline. The Academy obtains a limited number of copies and distributes them to AAPM&R members on a first-come, first-served basis. However, you can obtain a copy of the guideline by:

downloading the document from the PVA Web site at http://www.pva.org/cgi-bin/pvastore/products.cgi?id=1.
There is a download charge ($8 per professional CPGs, $5 per consumer versions).
calling the PVA toll-free number at (888) 860-7244 to order a copy at a cost of $19.95 per professional CPGs, $9.95 per consumer versions, plus shipping and handling.

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