Volume 43 Number 1

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance – Alan Watts.

Despite the challenges and changes the WCET^® has faced, we are still working hard and moving forward towards what we know will be a bright future.

As you may know, a member of the Executive Board and one of our very important members in a supporting role has been severely ill since last summer. They are now in the recovery phase and for that we are very thankful. We take this opportunity to warmly welcome them back and to thank all of our WCET^® family for their support in order to keep the organisation up and running, which is much appreciated.

Once again the WCET^® is suffering the pain of saying a very sad farewell to two of our iconic members whom we have recently lost. We are mourning Judy Chamberlin, who passed away in December, and Marylyn McManus, who passed away peacefully with her family at her side this February. They were both WCET^® Life Members and pioneers of stomal therapy in South Africa. Many thanks for all your kind words and prayers for them and their families. You will be able to read about their lives and achievements in a special tribute which will be published in our upcoming issue of the BullETin. May they rest in peace. They will be deeply missed.

We take this opportunity to congratulate Dr Gary R Sibbald, International Inter-Professional Wound Care Group (IIWCG) Chief Advisor, World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) Past President and Coeditor in Chief of the Advances in Skin & Wound Care Journal, for his 2022 Sault Ste. Marie Medal of Merit. We also celebrate Sharon Baranoski for receiving the International Skin Tear Advisory Panel (ISTAP) President’s Award. Please join us in congratulating them for receiving these prestigious awards.

We are delighted to announce the WCET^® has been accepted as an Affiliated Association by the International Council of Nurses (ICN), which is a very positive step forward. This relationship will give us a larger global audience and will increase our visibility and awareness for our tri-specialty. The next ICN congress will be held in Canada where the status, rights and duties of Affiliated Associations will be reviewed, and therefore it makes sense to have Vida Johnston, a member of the Constitution Advisory Panel, to be our liaison with them. We are pleased to announce that Vida has agreed; we thank her and welcome her to this new role. We realise that this new relationship will require some extra work, but we must think more broadly than ourselves in looking forward to the future of our tri-specialty. Let us embrace the ICN’s motto for the upcoming International Nurses’ Day on 12th May 2023, “Our nurses, our future”, adapted to “Our stoma wound continence nurses, our future”.

In following our strategic plan in relation to increasing our collaboration with other organisations, agreements (Memorandum of Understanding, MOU) have also been signed with the International Continence Society (ICS) and the European Council of Enterostomal Therapists (ECET). Negotiations to establish an MOU are in progress with the European Wound Management Association and we will advise the outcome of these discussions shortly.

As planned (JWCET 2022;42(3):11), the 2023 membership survey has been sent out and is now closed. We thank all of you who have taken the time to complete it. We are currently working on translating replies received in other languages. We are eager to receive the final results as your feedback will help us to assess and revise our previous strategic plan. A summary of survey results will be presented at the 2024 International Delegates’ meeting and the General Business Meeting during our joint WCET^® Congress with the Association of Stoma Care Nurses, United Kingdom (ASCN-UK) in Glasgow, UK. Important results will be published in a WCET^® Journal article; please stay tuned for more information.

Speaking about 2024, the WCET^® and ASCN-UK’s joint Scientific and Organising Committees are actively working on the next biennial congress program and activities. The call for abstracts will open this year, so please prepare your abstracts. Authors of previously accepted abstracts, from 2020/2021, will be contacted to enquire if they want to update their submission. The Congress website will be available shortly; please watch for updates.

As we write this message, the call for nominations for the next incoming Executive Board (EB) positions are being prepared for posting. Please remember, nominations for committee chairs should come from within the respective committee and nominees must have at least 2 years of experience as active committee members. The position of Treasurer will also be posted. As this position is quite sensitive and complex, there are numerous skills required to fulfil this role such as good English language skills, knowledge of accounting and book keeping, and money management. Excellent communication skills are also crucial. As a registered UK charity, our bank is in the UK, therefore being able to communicate with them, and the Charities Commission, and considering potential time zone differences, will have to be possible. Knowledge, skills and abilities to fulfil the roles of these important positions will need to be demonstrated. Please consider the amount of voluntary work it will take to be a part of the EB team, and remember that all EB members would be happy for you to reach out to them to learn more about the role and what is required from a personal and professional level. Please stay tuned for more information about the call for nominations and the subsequent election which will occur later this year.

These elected members will join the EB as non-voting members for the planned EB calls and meetings until they officially take their position as full EB members in October 2024. This mentoring period will allow them to get to know more about their new role and become confident as EB members. From a personal perspective it is a lot of work with added responsibility, but this is a once in a lifetime experience, it is personally and professionally intense, and is rich in learning with wonderful relationship building opportunities. It is very rewarding to know you are working towards a greater purpose which goes way beyond thinking about ourselves.

We would also like to say thank you to all our Sustaining Journal Partners who continue to support our scientific publication, including the professional translations and our WCET^® activities; we are eternally grateful.

We, along with Dr Jenny Prentice and Dr Elizabeth A Ayello, have started the process of working on the 3rd edition of the WCET^® International Ostomy Guideline. As you will remember from the 2nd edition, the peer reviewers’ comments, which were rich and diverse, highlighted some areas for improvement. Based on feedback received we have agreed on the need to change the methodology to compile the 3rd edition of the guideline. Having a methodologist join us in the process will be a great asset to ensure the methods used to gather and analyse best available evidence and craft guideline recommendations will be rigorous. This will of course be an additional cost. We will keep you updated in our next steps.

The WCET^® believes in networking and communication in support of our tri-specialty, taking the opportunity to gain insight on important information coming from outside of our organisation. For example:

• Please refer to the BullETin to get the latest update on upcoming congresses. Do not forget to send us your advert in time so we can add it to our list.
• You will read more in the BullETin about our experience of joining the International Society of University of Colorectal Surgeons (ISUCRS) and the Turkish Wound Ostomy Continence Association for their first joint nursing congress in Istanbul, Turkey, last October.
• In our continued efforts to connect globally we will be representing the WCET^® at the following events:
  • The Wound Care Conference with IIWCG in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
  • The second International Colorectal Surgery Congress and first International Surgery Nursing Congress in Antalya, Turkey in March.
  • The joint Australian Association of Stomal Therapy Nurses (AASTN) and Asia Pacific Enterostomal Therapy Nurse Association (APETNA) Congress in Perth, Australia in April. We cannot wait to reconnect face to face with all of you. The WCET^® would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the AASTN for their ongoing support.

We would also like to inform you that the Braden QD paediatric version of the pressure injury evaluation tool has been translated into French and is now available for use at: http://www.marthaaqcurley.com/braden-qd.html. This tool also exists in English, Chinese, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Thai and Turkish.

We also wish to advise you of a new consensus document which we are sure will help you in assessing pigmented skins:

Dhoonmoon L, Nair HKR, Abbas Z et al. International consensus document: wound care and skin tone signs, symptoms and terminology for all skin tones. 2023. Available from: https://www.woundsinternational.com/resources/all/0/date/desc/cont_type/47

There are more networking opportunities planned, so stay tuned to follow our international interactions and connections. Be sure to read about these important events and opportunities in the BullETin.

We wish you a healthy and prosperous 2023 and hope the year of the Water Rabbit will bring us all success.

Sincerely
Laurent and Denise

Author(s)

Laurent O Chabal
BSc (CBP), RN, OncPall (Cert), Dip (WH), ET, EAWT
WCET^® President 2022–2026

Denise Hibbert
MSc-WHTR, RGN, BSc, DipHE, ONC, STN, FSSCRS
WCET^® President Elect 2022–2026