This special joint issue of Advances in Skin & Wound Care and Nursing Management was designed as a practical resource for both healthcare leaders and clinicians. Using an evidence-based approach, the authors discuss complex topics of great concern to the global healthcare community.

In “Building a Business Case for Hiring Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses” and “Who Should Assess and Stage Pressure Injuries in Hospitalized Patients?” the authors address the cost of wound care, prudent use of resources, and a business case for investment in wound care nurse specialists’ expertise. They raise important questions about long-debated and controversial topics, including who should stage pressure injuries and whether staging is even necessary.

Other “how-to” articles discuss starting and growing essential programs. “A Patient Navigation Model to Improve Complex Wound Care Outcomes” demonstrates that minimal changes in home care improved or healed previously unhealable wounds through community-based, interprofessional teamwork; continuity; and patient-centered care coordination. In “Capturing Essentials in Wound Photography Past, Present, and Future: A Proposed Algorithm for Standardization,” Chiu and colleagues present the technologic, scientific, artistic, and legal concerns of using photography in wound care. “Seven Strategies for Optimizing End-of-Life Skin and Wound Care” is an important read for all who care for patients and loved ones at end of life. It provides guidelines on individualizing goals of care and staff education. “Creating a Comprehensive Hospital-Based Skin and Wound Care Program to Improve Outcomes and Decrease Pressure Injuries” details my journey in designing, implementing, and leading an interprofessional program resulting in significant improvements in care and fewer pressure injuries.

This issue highlights the imperative for interprofessional clinical and administrative collaboration to provide cost-effective care and optimize outcomes. Resources are key: time, money, and people. Evidence-based strategic planning requires flexibility and inclusion, involving all stakeholders (including frontline staff) in decision-making and resource allocation.

Experts, providers, and leaders must create an environment that not only establishes policies and standards but also gives those in direct care the evidence-based tools to effectively do their jobs. In a 2020 study on shared governance, Olender et al1 found that the most important factor to improve caring and outcomes was staff empowerment. In wound care, staff empowerment comprises a formal structure to give interprofessional staff a voice in shared decision-making, including selection and use of evidence-based products and equipment; nurse, physician, and allied health wound specialists to consult, assess, classify, and guide care; the needed products, supplies, and equipment available across the continuum of care; and patient-centered, practical home care models.

Healthcare systems and policymakers must break the bureaucratic paralysis and culture of blame that often create the biggest barriers to change and improvements. Today, many healthcare systems are large, billion-dollar, multifacility enterprises. Decisions must be informed by and made in concert with those on the frontlines of care. As clinicians and administrative leaders, we need to commit to using research and evidence, empowering staff, fostering interprofessional collaboration, evaluating the outcomes, and sharing the findings.

This joint issue is a first for both journals. Special thanks to the publishers and editors for their vision in creating this collaborative issue; to the authors for their knowledge translation; and to the readers, both clinical and administrative, whose partnership can empower staff, streamline systems, and create cost-effective, quality skin and wound care.

As the Guest Editor for this special issue, I built on my unique experiences as a seasoned chief nurse executive, hospital director, clinical nurse specialist, researcher, professor, graduate of the University of Toronto’s International Interprofessional Wound Care Course, and leader on nursing association and editorial boards, to bring together interprofessional topics, authors, and manuscripts. I hope readers find this special joint issue interesting and valuable in their practice and policymaking.

Kathleen Leask Capitulo, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNYAM, IIWCC, FACCE, C-CNS

1. Olender L, Capitulo K, Nelson J. The impact of interprofessional shared governance and a caring professional practice model on staff's self-report of caring, workplace engagement, and workplace empowerment over time. J Nurs Adm 2020;50(1):52–8. Thank You

In celebration of Peer Review Week (September 19-23, 2022), the editorial team of Advances in Skin & Wound Care would like to thank the following experts who reviewed manuscripts for the journal from August 2021 to July 2022:

Afsaneh Alavi

Johnny Alayon

Jenny Alderden

Alexis Aningalan

Sue Arford

Sandra Arias-Guzman

Miguel Aristizabal

Sharon A. Aronovitch

Muhammad Shahzad Aslam

Michael A. Bain

Sharon Baranoski

Paula Barbel

Bruna Ferreira Barreto Pires

Pelin Basim

Karen Lynn Bauer

JoAnn Beaudoin

Tone Kristin Bergersen

Nancy Bergstrom

Christine Berke

Dan R. Berlowitz

Joyce M. Black

Kathryn Anne Blair

Gregory Bohn

Scott Bolhack

Laura L. Bolton

Dottie Borton

Mary R. Brennan

Zara R. Brenner

David M. Brienza

Thureiyya Browne-Rodriquez

Maureen Bruce

Cezar Buzea

Evan Call

Karen Campbell

Virginia Capasso

Kathleen Leask Capitulo

Michael L. Casteel

Laurent Olivier Chabal

Norman J. Chideckel

Ernest S. Chiu

Elizabeth Ruth Choudhry

Andy S. Chu

Windy Cole

Kara Couch

Linda Cowan

Jill Cox

Lillian Craig

Alison Crawshaw

Kim Cudjoe

Lizanne Dalgleish

George A. Deitrick

Barbara Delmore

Michelle Ann Deppisch

Susan Dieter

Neil Donohue

Amr Elbatawy

Patricia Facquet

Nancy Ann Faller

Elizabeth Faust

Mark Feldman

Caroline Fife

Anika Fourie

Kathleen Francis

Harold Friedman

Michael E. Fusaro

Susan E. Gabriel

Diana Gallagher

Shravan Gangula

Susan L. Garber

Amit Gefen

Sylvia Lariza Gonzalez

Laurie Goodman

Sandeep Gopalakrishnan

Scott Gorenstein

Subhas Gupta

Corey Heerschap

Michel H. E. Hermans

Denise Hibbert

Susan D. Horn

Elizabeth Igboechi

Adam Lee Isaac

Abram Daved Janis

Liping Jiang

Jonathan Johnson

Steven J. Kavros

Karen S. Kellogg

Susan Kennerly

Mary Knudtson

Chaitanya Kodange

Bharat Kotru

Michael J. Lacqua

Diane K. Langemo

Tatiana Lapa

Irene Lara-Corrales

Kimberly LeBlanc

Sarah Lebovits

Kyle O. Lee

Jeffrey Levine

Brock Liden

Mary Demarest Litchford

Ebony Love

Vincent Maida

James Booth McGuire

Igor Melnychuk

Kwadwo Mponponsuo

Nancy Munoz

Rose Murphree

Christine Anne Murphy

Ann Marie Nie

Jeffrey Niezgoda

Linda Norton

Laurie Parsons

Barbara Pieper

Mary Ellen Posthauer

Jenny Prentice

Magdalena Pupiales

Rosanne Raso

Haitham Salem

Shawn Sanicola

Kathleen D. Schaum

Gregory Schultz

Thomas Serena

Sandeep Kumar Shukla

Cathryn Sibbald

Robert Skerker

Hiske Smart

Karen Marguerite Smith

Linda S. Smith

Ranjani Somayaji

Stephen Sprigle

James Bowen Stiehl

Arthur Stone

Nancy Stotts

Gulnaz Tariq

Margaret Teu

Wasiq Ahmad Thiryayi

Ismail Toygar

Jill Trelease

Marlene Varga

Stacy Elizabeth Wahl

Barbara Wyand Walker

Dee Anne Waugh

Julie Weng

Jeffrey Male Wienke

Kevin Woo

Annette Wysocki

Saldy Yusuf

Karen M. Zulkowski