About the IIWCC
The International Interprofessional Wound Care Course (IIWCC) is for wound care specialists with some education and experience: physicians, nurses, and other health professionals in the wound care field and related industry.
Overview
The IIWCC is a 9 to 12 month course, offered in partnership with the University of Toronto. The objective is to provide a comprehensive educational experience for wound care specialists and to translate new knowledge into practice.
The option to obtain a University of Toronto/Queen’s University: IIWCC Advanced Certificate for Wound Care (accreditation pending) is available.
The IIWCC is comprised of:
- Two mandatory Educational Weekends (3 days each)
- Fourteen self-study modules (9 required to complete:
5 faculty chosen and 4 student chosen) - A selective related to the student’s day-to-day activities is presented to the class and faculty along with a submitted written report – demonstrates translation of evidence to practice setting
- 4 Skills Workshop- including 4 virtual platform sessions with faculty between educational weekends
- Virtual Skills sessions 10 hours (2.5×4) spread between
the 2 educational weekends for skills acquisition
Participants will:
- Assess and critically review wound care
literature in key subject areas (Educational
Weekends and Modules) - Integrate wound care principles into module answers
and small group patient sessions (Educational
Weekends) - Demonstrate the application of best practices
by developing a Selective related to the
learner’s everyday activities/presented to the class - Perform new skills requiring demonstration of competence
Qualifications
Participants must have a health professional degree OR provide proof of a minimum of five years of relevant skin and wound care experience. A letter from an employer must be attached at time of application for those individuals without a degree.
Features
- Certificate of completion from the University of Toronto
- Pre-selected readings by faculty
- Comprehensive therapeutic strategies
- Training to be an educator
- Small group interprofessional collaboration
- Hands-on patient care demonstrations
- Information on new products and services
- Connect with international key opinion leaders
- Networking with colleagues, old and new
- Can be used as a credit towards the MScCH Program at UofT Graduate Studies*
*Note that entry into MScCH after completion of the IIWCC is subject to UofT admission criteria.
Topics
Faculty Chosen (F) and Student Chosen (S)
- Education and Health Care Systems (F)
- Health Care Delivery (S)
- Translational Research Design (S)
- Wound Bed Preparation (F)
- Inflammation and Infection (S)
- Leg Ulcers, Venous, Arterial, and Others (F)
- Diabetic Foot Ulcers (F)
- Pressure Ulcers (F)
- Maintenance/Non-Healing Wounds (S)
- Post-surgical Wounds (S)
- Burns/Trauma (S)
- Skin and Peri-stomal /Peri-wound (S)
- Lymphedema (S)
- Skin and Soft tissue Infections(S)
IIWCC Modules
Education and Health Care Systems
(mandatory)
- Assess the evidence base for continuing education to improve health care provider performance and patient outcomes
- Appraise the methodological quality of guidelines through the Agree Tool
- Improve the educational process for Continuing Education activities
- Challenge the class to implement educational strategies into their selective
Health Care Delivery
- Discuss and appraise the steps to translate knowledge into action (knowledge translation)
- Explore the steps involved in developing a clinical practice guideline, including implementation strategies for success and the common pitfalls
- Review gaps between the evidence and clinical practice at various levels of healthcare (ranging from patient-level to policymakers/systems level)
Translational Research Design
- Define critical research appraisal (CRA)
- Explain the role of critical appraisal and what it is not. Assess the outcome for CRA
- Describe the process to complete an appraisal
- Inflammation and Infection
Wound Bed Preparation
(mandatory)
- Describe healable, non-healable & maintenance wounds as part of wound bed preparation
- Diagnose: Superficial critical colonization & deep surrounding infection (NERDS & STONEES)
- Document local wound assessment and treatment; Debridement, Infection/ Inflammation, Moisture balance (DIM)
- Investigate clinical outcomes with local wound care including 5 classes of topical antimicrobial agents & case examples
- Preview the potential use of a new bedside Theranostic test for protease levels in wounds for the Edge effect (Advanced Therapies)
Inflammation and Infection
- Evaluate infective causes of wounds vs. infection as a complication of a chronic wound
- Assess the role of infection & inflammation in the diagnosis & treatment of the chronic wound.
- Diagnose the different clinical stages of bacterial damage: Superficial critical colonization and deep/ surrounding infection (NERDS & STONEES)
- Investigate clinical outcomes with topical antibacterial dressings (e.g. silver, iodine, PHMB, honey), anti-inflammatory agents & other antibacterial agents
- Analyze the role of prolonged inflammation in the non-healing wound and distinguish this from bacterial damage
Leg Ulcers
(mandatory)
- Differentiate the causes of leg ulcers (vascular including arterial, inflammation, neoplastic, infections)
- Review best practices for the team: assessment,
diagnosis, treatment, education of persons with venous disease - Explore the pathophysiology associated with venous ulceration Evaluate the options for compression therapy and the Cochrane evidence
- Identify patient-centred concerns through an approach to pain management & optimal local wound care
Diabetic Foot Ulcers
(mandatory)
- Review the Diabetic Foot Care Best Practices
- Evaluate the etiology and treatment of Diabetic foot disease (Vascular, Infection, Pressure)
- Focus on screening and prevention (Simplified 60 second screen)
- Highlight the Use of the Wound Bed Preparation Paradigm in the prevention and management of diabetic foot disease
- Consider the use of adjunctive therapies like HBOT
Pressure Ulcers
(mandatory)
- Critique the pressure ulcer (PU) risk factors & assessment tools Evaluate theories of pressure ulcer etiology
- Discuss pressure ulcer prevention strategies
- Analyze the pressure ulcer location and clinical features
- Design pressure ulcer prevention/treatment programs using the Wound Bed Preparation Paradigm
Maintenance/Non-Healing Wounds
- Defne heal ability
- Review the characteristic diagnosis and treatment of non-healable, maintenance vs healable wounds, malignant wounds (primary and secondary lesions vs chronic inflammation leading to malignant transformation)
- Assess patient-centred concerns for non-healable, malignant and palliative wounds
Post-Surgical Wounds
- Evaluate and reflect on the factors and associated mechanisms that affect post-surgical wound
- Identify post-surgical wound challenges at various levels of the health care continuum
- Appraise evidence-based approaches to address surgical site infections Discuss a programmatic approach to preventing and monitoring surgical site infections
- Describe the assessment and management of an individual with a fstula
Burns/Trauma
- Distinguish between the wound types that can be categorized as an Acute Trauma Injury
- Identify the mechanism and physiological effects of this type of trauma
- Measure the extent of the trauma
- Integrate the theory of this trauma type into a workable clinical plan of care
Skin and Peri-stomal /Peri-wound
- Compare contact irritant and allergic dermatitis and the differential diagnoses
- Identify common skin allergens
- Differentiate common peristomal skin injuries Classify skin tears
Lymphedema
- Classify differentiate & treat lower limb lymphedema and related disorders changes:
lymphedema and it’s aetiologies venous disease with venolymphedema Lipid-edema (lipedema) - Explore patient-centred concerns and approaches to treatment including prevention and amputations atypical/ life-threatening
.
Skin and Soft tissue Infections
- Assess the relevance of skin and soft tissue infections to chronic wound care
- Reflect on the different spectra of illness in high and low-income countries
- Develop an approach to the management of necrotizing soft-tissue infections
IIWCC-CAN FACULTY
Dr. Elizabeth Ayello
Elizabeth A. Ayello, PhD, MS, BSN, ETN, RN, CWON, MAPWCA, FAAN, is a board-certified wound and ostomy nurse from New York, New York USA. A fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) she is an internationally known prolific author, editor, researcher, clinician,...
Laurie Goodman
Laurie Goodman is the IIWCC Course Co-Director. She completed her Masters of Health Science in Nursing degree with a focus on education and interprofessional teaching. Leading and educating interprofessional teams and patients at Credit Valley Hospital (for 21 years)...
Dr. Kim LeBlanc
Kimberly LeBlanc is the Academic Chair of the Association for Nurses Specialized in Wound Ostomy and Continence Care’s (NSWOCC) and Certified Wound Ostomy Continence (WOCC (C)) advanced practice nurse working with KDS Professional Consulting. Kimberly obtained her PhD...
Dr. Linda Norton
Dr. Linda Norton, M.Sc.CH, PhD, OT Reg.(ONT), is an Occupational Therapist who is passionate about the provision of appropriate seating and mobility equipment. She developed her seating and mobility expertise running a seating clinic for clients with complex needs for...
Dr. Ranjani Somayaji
Dr. Ranjani Somayaji completed medical training followed by residency training in internal medicine and fellowship training in infectious disease through the University of Calgary. Dr. Somayaji completed a Master’s in Public Health through Johns Hopkins University...
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