The Hospital Clínic Barcelona has become the third tertiary hospital to achieve accreditation from the National Advisory Group for the Study of Pressure Ulcers and Chronic Wounds (GNEAUPP), together with the Hospital Universitario de Cruces in Bilbao and the Hospital Parc Salut del Mar in Barcelona. Currently, in Spain only 9 centres have this accreditation, which the former Hospital Plató—now part of the Clínic—achieved 6 years ago.
The Wounds Unit, physically located in the Plató Centre, is responsible for the comprehensive outpatient care of patients with complex wounds and for the efficient management of their progress through the different levels of care. This Unit forms part of the Complex Wounds Programme, a cross-disciplinary Nursing Management project made up of 16 nursing professionals who are experts in wound care, led by, Sonia Riera, an advanced practice nurse specialising in wounds. Furthermore, each one is a leader in their particular clinical specialty, and 10 of them have been accredited as experts by GNEAUPP. This is a project that was launched in 2021 to provide care for hospitalized patients with complex wounds on all three of the centres, in order to unify criteria and provide support and training to professionals in the field of skin care.
Together with the Multidisciplinary Wounds Commission, this team has worked over the last four years on the development of protocols, training courses, the standardization and updating of treatment materials, and advising professionals, among other things, which has made it possible to promote prevention and guarantee best practices in the treatment of patients with wounds throughout the hospital.
Saray Alen, director of nursing at the Clínic, states that this accreditation “makes us relevant for our expertise and excellence in the type of care provided and our multi-professional vision”. In addition, she highlights the work carried out previously at the Plató Centre, since “the combined efforts of teams of great professionals makes us much better and has given us the opportunity to grow in projects like this one”.
