News
Wound care coordinator joins Emerson Hospital
(CONCORD, Mass., July 2, 2008)--Deborah Gibson, MS, RN, CWCN, recently joined Emerson Hospital’s Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine as wound care coordinator. In her role, Gibson will coordinate the total nursing care plans for patients, participate in patient and family teaching, and provide leadership by working cooperatively with ancillary departments to maintain standards for professional nursing practice in the clinical setting.
Gibson earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and her master’s degree in community health nursing from Northeastern University. Prior to joining Emerson Hospital, Gibson was director of clinical specialties for the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater Lowell, where she managed the agency’s wound program, consulting on wound and ostomy patients in their homes. A certified wound care nurse, she is a member of the Wound Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
“I am thrilled to be able to work in a collaborative wound clinical setting with cutting-edge wound technology to improve patient outcomes,” said Gibson. “I hope to expand my knowledge base and contribute to positive wound healing.”
The first center of its kind in the area, the Wound Care Center is located on the first floor of Emerson’s new Center for Specialty Care at 54 Baker Avenue Extension (formerly 196 Baker Avenue) in Concord. The Center is staffed by a team of wound care specialists with advanced training in the care of chronic wounds. At the Wound Care Center, patients first meet with the clinical staff for a consultation, including a physical examination and medical history evaluation. The wound care team then establishes a treatment plan. Treatment types vary and may include debridement (removal of unhealthy or dead tissue around the wound), nutritional management, physical therapy, skin and bone infection control and high-technology dressings, including bioengineered tissue that can effectively fill in a wound. An alternative treatment option for chronic wounds is hyperbaric oxygen, which is an adjunctive therapy in which the patient breathes 100% oxygen (normal air is 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen) while enclosed in a pressurized chamber. The Wound Care Center at Emerson Hospital includes two hyperbaric chambers.
For more information on the Wound Care Center, call 978-287-8550.