The 6th Annual Convention of the Philippine Orthopedic Wound Care and Diabetic Limb Society (POWCDLS) was held in Novotel Manila on September 12-13. The theme of this year’s meeting was Elevating Prevention into Practice, Driving a Culture of Skin Protection.
It featured many timely topics on wound care specialists coming from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. Among the esteemed faculty roster is Dr. Juan Agustin Coruña IV, an orthopedic surgeon based in Bacolod City with specialization in foot, ankle, and wound care.
Coruña was given the honor of presenting a lecture explaining how silicone-based foam dressings can prevent pressure injuries during surgery by reducing shear, friction, and moisture imbalance. He outlined when and where to apply these dressings, the evidence behind them, and how to integrate their use into routine surgical preparation for safer, more skin-friendly operations.
This was followed by a hands-on workshop applying prophylactic dressings. “We are glad to have faculty from Bacolod teaching in this national congress. Dr. Coruña has multiple researches and excellent material on the topic,” said Dr. Charles Richard Cabuquit, president of POWCDLS. He adds, “We also completed the first Wound Caravan in Bacolod City last August 2. We were blown away with the volume of participants from Western Visayas and their eagerness to learn. Dr. Coruña gave the lecture on Wound Debridement then and it was very well received.”
“Wound care is an important skill to have,” said Coruña. “Family members, teachers, and students must be introduced and allowed to be familiar with it, not just first responders and health professionals. Surprisingly, we see over 10,000 transactions for wound care in the city. This is an underreported statistic, because this only includes data from our largest private and government facilities. There is a burden for patients suffering from fresh wounds because these cause pain and limited mobility. This difficulty is exponentially worse for chronically ill individuals with non-healing wounds because they often have co-morbidities that need to be addressed. It can also be expensive for some in resource-scarce areas; and while financial problems may affect compliance, there are also social and psychological truths that affect patients with wounds with a very foul odor and the stigma they are labeled with.”
A sincere advocacy for a healthy community is reflected in a city that alleviates issues caused by wounds within the greater population through health education and injury prevention. “In our census, for example, patients from motorcycle accidents who wear shoes have significantly shorter hospital stays compared to those wearing none. The simple act of wearing shoes prevents injury to the skin, allowing a protective barrier of the body to remain intact.”
Finally, Coruña presented a masterclass synthesizing many aspects of the event through an interdisciplinary session unifying the learning experience. Participants analyzed real cases of preventable skin harm, identified system gaps, and applied prevention tools in caregiver simulation exercises. As these events have annual iterations, the topics change as well. There is a clear role for Bacolod City to teach within the country and abroad about ways to improve the lives of patients through excellent wound care.*
