This book provides a useful resource for practitioners working in different healthcare settings and addresses many of the complex issues that must be faced for successful management.

Healthcare professionals and educators have long recognised the need for regular updates on developments in practice and research. One approach is the publication of review chapters, selected on the basis of topical interest, and written by authorities in the field. The series, 'Advances in Wound Care' will set out to meet these needs. Each successive volume will follow this pattern of sections, each dedicated to a specific aspect of wound management.

This is the first book in the series; it has a strong focus on chronic wounds and their microbiology. The first section, on aspects of leg ulceration, oedema and stoma care, includes such topics as cellulitis, topical steriods, pulse oximetry, as well as recent best practice guidelines for the management and the role of nutrition in ulcer prevention - two areas of interest for all involved in pressure ulcer care. The causes of oedema and stoma-related skin complications are also covered. The chapters in section II, on wound pain and palliative care, are written with the community-based practitioner in mind. Wound-related pain and criteria for fluid (exudate) handling of wound treatments are also presented. In the final section, scientific developments from research and new thinking are proposed with a review of biofilms and postulated mechanisms of critical colonisation.

Future editions will include further chapters on lymphoedema and chronic oedema, infection criteria, health economics, burns and plastics nursing and pressure ulcer aetiology.

This book is supported by Activa Healthcare