by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 6, 2021 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Fight the Good Fight
Dear Manufacturer of Cellular and/or Tissue-based Products (CTPs) — commonly known as “skin substitutes”: I feel compelled to explain the math of using CTPs in the hospital-based outpatient department (HOPD). A friend who is a podiatrist just told me about the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 30, 2021 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Fight the Good Fight, Nutrition & Wound Healing
This is a 35 y.o. woman with type 1 Diabetes, liver disease and end stage renal disease on home peritoneal dialysis after failed renal and liver transplants. She also has other wounds on her body due to pressure and ischemia. The abdominal wound had been present for 9...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 14, 2021 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Fight the Good Fight, Nutrition & Wound Healing, US Wound Registry
This is a young man in his 20’s who is a quadraplegic and suffered a bowel obstruction about 6 months before this photograph was taken. The midline abdominal wound is granulated, but still hasn’t epithelialized. Why? There’s no pressure over this area and it doesn’t...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 8, 2020 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
I understand why companies develop products for diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and venous leg ulcers (VLUs), even though those are NOT the most common wound problems. It’s because the clinical trials needed to satisfy the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are well...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 13, 2020 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality
I am a huge proponent of better care coordination. This means doctors have to talk to each other. When I need to talk to a doctor who’s cell phone I don’t already have, I cringe. It means I will have to face their office telephone system and I am so DONE with this. I...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 29, 2020 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Fight the Good Fight, PAD Hall of Shame, US Wound Registry
I recently reviewed the case of an elderly woman with a non-healing wound who had ischemic rest pain and extreme malnutrition, neither of which were addressed by the wound center at which she was treated previously. Not surprisingly she failed to improve with the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 27, 2020 | COVID-19, Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Fight the Good Fight, Nutrition & Wound Healing
If you are a wound management practitioner, then like me, you’ve continued to care for patients during the pandemic. It wasn’t easy before COVID-19 and it’s even harder now. My clinic is only able to see half the volume (due to the time required for COVID-19...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 19, 2020 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Healthcare Payment Policy
Special guest blog post by Marissa Carter, PhD Predicting Healing on the First Visit (for venous ulcers and other wound types) There is a lot of interest in “predictive models” for chronic wounds and ulcers. The ideal predictive model can predict at the FIRST VISIT...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 3, 2019 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
The Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders parterned with the US Wound Registry (USWR) to develop a suite of wound care relevant quality measures. This year, 3 of those CMS approved quality measures were selected for depiction on Physician Compare. An article about this...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 24, 2019 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality
Recently as part of a post marketing surveillance project for a specific dressing product, I had to record the dressings used on a wound over time. I’ve provided just a little example of what I found. This is just the diary of one wound, and doesn’t include all of the...
