Professor Zena Moore, Head of the RCSI School of Nursing and Midwifery, and Julie Jordan OBrien, Tissue Viability Clinical Nurse Specialist at Beaumont Hospital, will deliver a lecture called ‘Wound Management: Honey, Maggots and other Medical Marvels. During this lecture, Prof Moore will bring attendees through the prevalence of wounds, how to manage them and detail both the human cost and financial cost of wound management to the health service. Prof Moore will then go through a variety of ancient wound care remedies (i.e. use of honey, silver and maggots) which healthcare professionals are now looking to as alternatives to antibiotics due to increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance.
Speaking ahead of the lecture, Prof Moore said, ‘Due to the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance and spiralling cost of wound care to the health service (25-50% of Irish hospital beds are occupied by wound patients with the cost of one problematic wound being between €6,500-10,000 per patient), healthcare professionals are now looking at alternative ways of treating wounds. In essence, healthcare professionals are ‘looking back to go forward in turning to some ancient remedies to treat different kinds of wounds. In the lecture, Julie and I will go through a range of such methods and will provide tips on managing wounds, keeping in mind the old adage that prevention is the best cure when it comes to wounds.
The opening topic of the evening will be a lecture entitled ‘Evidence-Based Medicine. This talk will be given by a clinical lecturer in the department of General Practice at RCSI, Dr Anthony Cummins. Evidence Based Medicine or EBM is an approach to the practice of medicine which makes use of the best available health evidence alongside the doctors expertise and the patients needs and expectations. It has a core aim of delivering to patients the best quality healthcare with their active participation in decision making. During the lecture Dr. Cummins will outline the principles of EBM with examples as well how expert opinion and media coverage of health issues affect patient choices.
Speaking on his RCSI MiniMed talk Dr Cummins said ‘Understanding how healthcare decisions are made is an essential first step in the partnership between the patient and the doctor. Because of the wealth of health information available nowadays to both doctors and the general public, it is vital that we all know how to decide if a health claim is valid. A knowledge of the principles of evidence based medicine brings benefits for both doctors and patients. This lecture will include information sources to help patients understand health issues so that they and their doctors can work together as partners for safer, better quality decision making.
The RCSI MiniMed Open Lecture Series is free of charge; however registration is essential in order to guarantee a place. Previous lecture series have attracted widespread public interest with demand for places far outstripping availability. Register online at www.rcsi.ie/minimed and you can join the conversation online, on the night, on Twitter at #RCSIMiniMed. To view previous RCSI MiniMed lectures from the last series on the RCSI YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/TheRCSI123 .
Founded in 1784, RCSIs mission is to develop healthcare leaders who make a difference worldwide. RCSI is a not-for-profit health sciences organisation which focuses on education and research to drive positive change in all areas of human health worldwide. RCSI is headquartered in Dublin and is a recognised College of the National University of Ireland.