The AAWC is pleased to announce it has engaged MCI USA as its new association management partner. The decision comes after an extensive search for a support organization which shares AAWC’s independent and member-focused model.

MCI USA brings 30 years of results-oriented experience and expertise in full-service association management, strategic planning and consulting, creative services, technology solutions, event conceptualization, and more. MCI boasts proven experience in the healthcare sector, and has a diverse client portfolio, including the American Health Quality Association, Society for Clinical Data Management, Interstitial Cystitis Association, Incentive Research Foundation, and the Accreditation Council for Genetic Counselling among their association partners.

Working with CEO Victoria Elliott and Program Manager Laurie Hiltebeitel, MCI USA will provide organizational infrastructure and management enabling AAWC leadership to continue improving member engagement, expanding educational initiatives, and strengthening AAWC’s role as the premier voice for wound care professionals.

“Our new partnership with MCI USA perfectly positions the AAWC to create and expand evidence-based education, tools and resources our members have told us they need and want to support and propel their wound care practice.” Ruth Bryant, PhD, MS, RN, CWOCN, President Elect and Chair AAWC Management Search Task Force.

MCI USA is proudly recognized by the American Business Ethics Awards as one of the top companies in the United States for vision, leadership, and integrity. MCI’s US headquarters is in McLean, Virginia with other US offices in Baltimore, New York, Dallas, Miami and Chicago.

AAWC Members Now Have Exclusive Access to the Internet’s Premier Source of Evidence-Based Content

The Trip Medical Database is a new and valuable addition to member benefits. If you are not associated with an institution that can access or perform a literature search, we've now got you covered! Easy, quick and without the hassles of going through your local reference librarian!

Trip is a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care. Online since 1997, searched over 125 million times and providing answers to over 70% of clinical questions, Trip houses millions of articles from systematic reviews to the web's largest collection of clinical guidelines with items indexed & uniquely ranked. Trip also allows clinicians to search across other content types including images, videos, patient information leaflets, educational courses and news.

The Trip algorithm uses three main factors when deciding the position of particular search results:

• Text score. If a search term is in the title of the document it scores more highly than if it only appears in the body of the text. If it only appears once in a thousand word document it scores less than if it appears twenty times.

• Publication score. As far as we know Trip is unique in using a publication score, based on quality, to help order results. So, a high quality resource (such as Cochrane) will have a higher score than say the BMJ and this again will score more highly than an eTextbook.

• Date. The more recent the document the higher the score.

These three elements are combined to give each document a score. The document with the highest score appears at the top of the results.

While the basic Trip service is free, AAWC members have access to the Trip Pro offering more content, more functionality, no advertisements and more. Trip Pro is accessible from any smartphone, tablet or web browser. To access your free version of the Trip Pro database, log in to the members’ only section of the AAWC website using your AAWC member Username and Password. On the Members’ Only page, scroll down the Trip medical database image and be on your way to quick and easy searches for high-quality clinical research evidence and patient care information.

AAWC Announces Appointment of New Director of Education
Molly Marsh to lead Education Programs

February 14, 2019 -- The Association for the Advancement of Wound Care announces the appointment of Molly Marsh as the organization’s Director of Education. Marsh began her post on February 1, 2019.

“I am delighted to welcome Molly to this important position,” said Victoria Elliott, Chief Executive Officer, the AAWC. “Our membership has highlighted education as one of the three important pillars of AAWC’s future and Molly is uniquely qualified to lead this charge.”

Marsh brings more than eleven years of experience in education, conferences, and program development in association management. Since 2015, she has been director of education and engagement design at AMR Management Services where she has brought innovative new approaches to conference education through design principles, adult learning, new technologies, and engagement strategies. She holds a BA in drama and religion from Transylvania University.

In her position with AAWC, Marsh will provide oversight and coordination to AAWC education initiatives including regional summits, invited education tracks, and the monthly journal club, among other programs. She will lead oversight of content strategy, management of the conference planning committees, and provide support for educational approaches, speaker selection and development, and shaping of conference design. She will coordinate CE, CME, and CNE requirements and compliance, support volunteer leaders, speakers, moderators and facilitators, and conduct post-conference evaluation analysis.

“Joining AAWC in this position brings together my experience and my passion to advance education in healthcare,” said Marsh. “I share AAWC’s deep commitment to assuring its membership have access to best in class practices. I look forward to working with both membership and leadership to offer strong programs to advance wound care.”

As one of Connect Association’s Top 40 Under 40, Marsh emerged as a thought leader in association management and professional education, offering presentations and facilitating sessions on a global platform. Accustomed to developing blogs and case studies, she has developed a reputation in human-centered design and a data-based approach to decision making to help associations support members, use resources effectively and deliver on their missions.

AAWC is the preeminent, global multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the research and clinical application of evidence based wound care. As a not for profit association, AAWC strives to build a collaborative wound care community for optimal care of those who suffer or are at risk for wounds.

October 19, 2018

We are very excited to announce new investment in your future. Extensive research of the membership revealed that we need to focus energy and resources on innovative educational delivery models, public policy, and greater flexibility for collaborations with other wound care organizations.

You, the wound care clinician, are committed to improving people’s lives. You share a common interest to advance the care of people with and at risk for wounds. From individual member clinicians to industry partners, your combined vision, expertise, and passion deliver a powerful impact to your communities, regions, and states.

Your AAWC is focused and accepts the challenge to support and accelerate your collective practices for the good of you and your patients.

To further our mission, your AAWC must:
• Evolve and adapt to the wound care industry’s clinical and professional needs.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to bind the wound care industry together
• Advocate for your pressing topics and issues of today and tomorrow.

To be optimally positioned for a new future, your AAWC must make some important changes to its infrastructure. As a result, the AAWC will no longer be in partnership with HMP. Please join us in thanking them for their 23 years of partnership and the many accomplishments we have achieved together. We will be working with HMP through the end of the year to achieve a smooth transition and allocation of those resources toward a brighter future. We can’t wait to begin rolling out your new and improved AAWC!

Sincerely,

Tomas Serena, MD, FACS, AAWC President
On behalf of the AAWC Board of Directors

Wound News You Can Use!
AAWC Launches a New Member E-Newsletter

On October 23, 2018 the AAWC will launch a new weekly publication generated by our newsletter partner, Rasa.io. The AAWC Wound News You Can Use is a personalized email that curates a combination of relevant wound industry stories and articles unique to the individual interests of our members. The Rasa.io’s artificial intelligence technology learns each member’s likes and interests to personalize their email news content based upon those preferences. The result is a concise but robust source of recent research, product developments, and wound care information and resources.

We are very excited about this new member offering and want to make it as useful as possible for readers. Look for the first issue to launch on Tuesday October 23. Take a moment to read it and then click on the feedback link to let us know what you think!
Not a member? Join AAWC today!

Many thanks to Heather Hettrick, PT, PhD, CWS, CLT-LANA, CLWT, AAWC Board Member and Publications Division Liaison, for her help and expertise with the launch of Wound News You Can Use. Dr. Hettrick will serve as Editor of Wound News You Can Use.