The George Washington University Hospital Wound Care and Hyperbaric Treatment Center treats patients who are seeking relief for their chronic and acute wounds.

Comprehensive Care
The GW Wound Care and Hyperbaric Treatment Center's spectrum of services includes: physician support in the areas of infectious diseases, podiatry, vascular surgery and wound care; vascular assessment; infection assessment and intervention; and hyperbaric assessment.

The staff at the GW Wound Care and Hyperbaric Treatment Center generally evaluates patients within 24 hours of calling for an appointment and determines a course of wound treatment. The goals for treatment are to heal wounds and address the factors that caused them to become chronic. This will help prevent wounds from returning.

Therapy may include medicated dressings, compression bandages, debridement (removal of dead issue), skin substitutes and/or hyperbaric medicine depending on the type and severity of the wound. Most patients come in twice a week for treatment. Photographs are taken each visit to track that patient's progress.

Wound care technicians, under the direction of Emergency Department physicians, treat the following conditions:

• Diabetic foot ulcers
• Chronic venous ulcers (sometimes causes by deep vein thrombosis) or venous insufficiency
• Arterial ulcers (sometimes caused by atherosclerosis or narrowing of the arteries)
• Pressure ulcers
• Radiation-related tissue damage with open wounds
• Non-healing surgical wounds
• Wounds of unknown cause
• Burns, accidents