Complex Wound Clinic at Harbor-UCLA
About Chronic Wounds
Chronic wounds affect approximately 2.5% of the U.S. population with Medicare expenditures estimated to be 28.5 to 96.1 billion dollars annually. Non-healing wounds are often complex with multifactorial etiology. Due to the pain, psychosocial distress, and physical disability of chronic wounds, these patients suffer a significant impact on their quality of life. Patients with “hard-to-heal” wounds report moderate quality of life (QoL score: 52.18±25.07) and satisfaction (satisfaction score: 68.91±23.88), according to a descriptive cross-sectional study. Another study showed that patients with chronic wounds have the lowest health-related quality of life scores in domains related to physical role and physical functioning, with outcomes being especially poor for patients with wound-related amputations.
Purpose and Background
Founded in 2024 by Dr. Lulu Wong-Jensen, the Complex Wound Clinic at Harbor-UCLA is a monthly clinic aimed at addressing complex wounds through a multidisciplinary and multi-modality approach. Combining medical therapies with advanced medical and surgical bedside procedures, we focus on personalized patient care to treat this complex disease.
Complex wound patients are evaluated and treated in the monthly wound care clinic. Diagnostic and therapeutic care is offered for the management of chronic refractory wounds that are failing conventional therapies. Coordination of care is especially important for patients with challenging living circumstances, and access to wound care supplies is optimized.
Leadership
Lulu Wong-Jensen, MD, completed her undergraduate studies at California State University, Fresno, and received her medical degree from the University of Miami. She completed a year-long translational research fellowship in wound healing and regeneration at the University of Miami under the mentorship of Dr. Tomic-Canic, studying various molecular biomarkers present in non-healing wounds. After completing an internship in internal medicine at the California Pacific Medical Center, she graduated from Dermatology Residency at Loma Linda University. Dr. Wong-Jensen recently joined faculty at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and is engaged in various efforts to build the clinical and research effort in chronic wounds at Harbor and in Southern California.
Contact information:
To make an appointment, please see your primary care physician for a referral to dermatology and request a visit for complex wound.
References:
Nussbaum SR, Carter MJ, Fife CE, DaVanzo J, Haught R, Nusgart M, Cartwright D. An Economic Evaluation of the Impact, Cost, and Medicare Policy Implications of Chronic Nonhealing Wounds. Value Health. 2018 Jan;21(1):27-32. doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2017.07.007. Epub 2017 Sep 19. PMID: 29304937.
Sen CK. Human Wound and Its Burden: Updated 2022 Compendium of Estimates. Adv Wound Care (New Rochelle). 2023 Dec;12(12):657-670. doi: 10.1089/wound.2023.0150. PMID: 37756368; PMCID: PMC10615092.
Natarajan J, Joseph MA, Alawi RA, Bulushi TA, Alawi IA, Junaibi SMA, Thanka AN, Balushi LDA, Ismaili ISA, Shumma M, Nabhani SSTA. Wellbeing, quality of life and satisfaction of patients with hard-to-heal wounds: a descriptive study. J Wound Care. 2024 Jul 2;33(7):526-532. doi: 10.12968/jowc.2022.0049. PMID: 38967342.
Olsson M, Järbrink K, Divakar U, Bajpai R, Upton Z, Schmidtchen A, Car J. The humanistic and economic burden of chronic wounds: A systematic review. Wound Repair Regen. 2019 Jan;27(1):114-125. doi: 10.1111/wrr.12683. Epub 2018 Dec 2. PMID: 30362646.
