NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Wiser Wound Care

Improving the delivery of acute wound care services in hospitals

Wounds cause pain, discomfort and can compromise quality of life. They also place patients at risk of various complications such as deadly infections.

Our research improves the care provided to hospitalised patients with wounds, resulting in better patient experiences and outcomes, and savings to the health system. Almost all patients in hospital have a wound, whether it be a surgical wound, a wound from an intravascular device (drip) or a pressure injury.

To achieve our vision, we investigate how to prevent and treat these wounds and ensure this knowledge translates into both policy and practice.

Research highlights

Wiser wound care focus of new Centre of Research Excellence

Griffith University has been awarded a $2.5 million National Health and Medical Research Grant to develop a Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) to improve delivery of acute wound care services in hospital.

Our Mission

We undertake systematic reviews and implementation/de-implementation research to improve patient outcomes. We focus on engaging with end-users, both consumers and clinicians in our research and knowledge translation activities, as well as providing research training.

Focus areas

We focus on three high-volume, high-risk and high-cost acute wounds that occur in hospital.

A nurse helping a male patient rolling to the side

Pressure injuries

Pressure injuries are potentially preventable injuries to the skin and underlying tissues. In hospitalised patients, pressure injury prevalence is 12.8%. Our research focuses on developing evidence-based interventions that increase hospitalised patients' involvement in prevention of pressure injuries, contributing to reducing the clinical and cost impacts on patients, their families and the healthcare system.

Experts: , Professor Liz McInnes and

Surgical wounds

Postoperative wound infection is one of the most avoidable hospital-acquired complications. Between 11-19% of patients develop a postoperative wound infection up to 30 days following surgery. Our research is focused on developing interventions to inform improvements in the safety, quality and experiences of surgical patients and their families by generating high quality research evidence that promotes the best clinical practice.

Experts: and

Intravascular devices

Intravascular device wounds/skin complications are extremely prevalent but preventable. Globally, 25% of central and 36% of peripheral IVDs are removed due to complications ( e.g. bruising, swelling, dermatitis). Our research focuses on developing evidence-based interventions that minimise complications and optimise patient care.

Experts: and

Logos

National Health and Medical Research Council Logos

NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence

The National Health Medical Research Council (NHMRC) awarded our team a 5-year Centre of Research Excellence (CRE - App1196436) in Wiser Wound Care. Our CRE was established on 1 January 2021.

Partner with us

Partnerships and collaboration are essential to our research impact. We partner widely with industry, not-for-profit organisations and government. We also collaborate with fellow researchers and maintain strong ties with our community.

If you would like to partner with us, or tap into our research expertise, facilities or services, please get in touch.